Pay for Student Nurses to Be Increased from Beginning of March

From the beginning of March pay rates for student nurses are set to increase, under a new deal agreed between the Government and nursing unions.Nurses who spend at least 36 weeks working in a hospital or clinical setting will see their wage rise from 6.49 to 9.49 per hour. In 2013 pay for these students was reduced and linked to the training rate of the national minimum wage.The new arrangement will set student nurse rates at 70% of the first point of the staff nurses incremental pay scale. In future the 36 weeks experience will also be officially recognised as the students move along the incremental scale. This student nurse pay crisis was one of a number of issues on which the Government agreed to engage with trade unions. This was negotiated as part of talks which led to the overall Landsdowne Road agreement on public service pay last year. USI president, Kevin Donoghue, welcomed the announcement stating "I read about one nursing student who was paid just 374 euro after tax for working 114 hours in three weeks, which equates to a mere 3.28 euro an hour. This change in wage increase means that student nurses and midwives will have a more secure financial position".Director of Industrial Relations at the INMO, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, stated that "there is a lot more work to be done for students and midwives. The unions are completely committed to fully engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Health in order to secure incremental credit for these categories of nurses; to ensure they receive the same benefit as those qualifying in 2016".UCC Students' Union commented that "We are delighted to welcome the announcement. This is an issue we have been strongly campaigning on for the past number of years".The decision will take effect from 1st March and will benefit approx. 1,400 final year students this year and in all subsequent years.