Shropshire Star

Weekly pay introduced as recruitment drive due to start at Shropshire health trust

Weekly pay is now being offered to people who join the pool of bank staff at Shropshire’s two main hospitals.

Published

The change at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) was brought in at the start of the month in response to feedback from employees.

Bank staff provide cover for planned and unplanned shortfalls in staffing and staff absences.

Victoria Maher, workforce director at the trust, said: “If you’re doing a bit of work here and there, a month is a long time to wait to get paid.

“Weekly pay gives more immediate gratification. Like all incentives, it encourages loyalty.”

SaTH, which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital, wants to reduce its reliance on agency nurses by increasing its own bank of staff who can either work regularly or who can pick up shifts at short notice.

The trust has held a number of recruitment events in recent months and is about to embark on a second drive to attract nurses from all over the West Midlands.

Victoria added: “We have to use agency staff to ensure we have enough staff on duty to provide safe care for our patients, but we would rather use our own bank staff as much as possible, not just because of the cost but because they provide better continuity of care for our patients.

“This nurse bank campaign complements the Belongtosomething campaign we launched two years ago to promote the trust as widely as possible.”

To find out more visit www.belongtosomething.co.uk/nursebank