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from the NHS in South Bucks? Reporter DEREK SUFFLING went to Wycombe Hospital to find out. HEALTH service professionals, workers and union officials in South Bucks welcomed the Government's pay awards for nurses, announced this week.

With a headline 12 per cent pay rise for newly-qualified staff, health bosses are hopeful staff shortages may soon begin to decrease.

However, the news coincides with a survey which names South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust among the worst in the south for staff vacancies.

UNISON, the health service employees union, claims that last month South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust was one of only six trusts in the southern region to report staff vacancies in excess of 100.

UNISON surveyed 37 hospital trusts in the southern region. The John Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust in Oxford topped the list with 150 vacancies. Wycombe and Amersham took sixth place, with 101 vacancies.

The survey suggests the shortfalls at Wycombe and Amersham consist of 61 vacancies for qualified nurses and 40 vacancies for unqualified staff, such as nursing assistants, auxiliary nurses, and health care assistants.

David Tippins, director of hospital services for South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust, believes the stated figure for vacancies among trained nurses is lower than that stated in the UNISON survey, but could not give an exact figure.

Mr Tippins adds: "We always expect a number of vacancies. We always use bank nurses and, for the last 12 months, we've used a higher number of them."

The percentage of bank nurses used represents no more than 2.5 per cent of the total number of nurses employed by the hospital, according to Mr Tippins.

He admits the situation is not ideal, and adds: "Agency nurses aren't committed to us and tend to be relatively expensive."

In a separate category of the UNISON survey, the South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust also reported ten vacancies from a department of 80 in professions allied to nursing, such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists.

To make matters worse, UNISON official Helen Black claims many jobs contracted out to private firms by NHS trusts are not included in survey response figures, effectively masking the true extent of the problem.

Helen, regional head of health for the union, says: "Pay is not the only issue here. There is a knock-on effect on morale of inadequate staffing levels piling extra pressure on to dwindling numbers of regular staff."

She added: "While the pay rises announced will be welcomed by grade D nurses, it's not going to do a great deal to stem the exodus from the profession. Most nurses can get more pay for less hassle elsewhere, often in the private sector."

Before the pay award was announced on Monday, UNISON claimed 70 per cent of nurses polled in a 2,000 member survey were considering leaving the NHS.

Amersham-based research sister, Maria Nicholson, is chairman of the Royal College of Nursing's Wycombe and Amersham branch. She claims to represent more than 85 per cent of the 2,000 or so qualified nurses in the NHS Trust.

Ms Nicholson believes the Government would have faced a mass exodus of staff, had it not taken action to raise the wages of NHS nurses.

She adds: "The situation is that the nurses who have held the service together over the last few years feel disappointed.

"Rewards for the youngsters coming in are great, but we've kept the service running and they are the ones getting the pay rises."

Despite this, Ms Nicholson says her members are trying to take a constructive approach to the future. In particular, she is now calling on Labour Health Secretary, Frank Dobson, to review the service's pay structure, to improve opportunities for career progression for NHS nurses.

Mr Tippins is less enthusiastic about a shake-up in the pay scale, adding: "The proposed review of the grading structure presents more potential for trauma. I don't believe in change for the sake of it"

Ms Nicholson says she is encouraging RCN members locally to write to her with their reaction to the pay awards. The Wycombe and Amersham branch will then hold meetings to form a collective opinion, which will be expressed directly to Mr Dobson within the next few weeks.

"While I welcome the pay awards and the fact that they are being paid in full, we have to ask where the money is coming from," Ms Nicholson adds.

Health service professionals do not yet know the answer to that question, though it is rumoured the £100 million the pay awards will cost may be taken from the Government's NHS modernisation fund.

David Tippins says: "We're pleased there's been an award above inflation, but we're concerned about how trusts are going to find the money, and we've got concerns about what the pay review might mean.

He adds: "I suspect the money's coming from the modernisation fund. If the NHS trust has to fund it, it's bound to put restrictions on the service we can offer. I hope the rises will be centrally funded."

Asked if he felt there may be bad feeling among more senior nurses whose pay awards are dwarfed by those for newly qualified staff, Mr Tippins said: "I don't get the feeling there's any resentment among the older staff to the younger newly-qualified nurses."

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