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Senior nurse NHS roles ‘undervalued’ in job profiles review

Newly updated NHS nursing job profiles for Agenda for Change bands 7, 8 and 9 do not reflect the responsibilities, skills and clinical expertise of senior nurses, the RCN says. Responding to a consultation on a review of job profiles by the NHS Staff Council job evaluation group, the college says the draft profiles should be amended before they are implemented. The RCN campaigned for a review of nursing job profiles, which have not been updated in more than a decade, but its general secretary says the draft profiles fail to place enough value on senior nurses’ experience and specialist expertise.
Senior nurse role profiles: ward manager in team meeting. Nurses in bands 7,8 and 9 have been undervalued in roles review, RCN claims

Draft band 7, 8 and 9 nurse job profiles fail to reflect the responsibilities, skills and clinical expertise needed in senior nursing roles and should be amended, says RCN

Senior nurse role profiles: ward manager in team meeting. Nurses in bands 7,8 and 9 have been undervalued in roles review, RCN claims
Nurses in band 7, 8 or 9 are more specialist in their knowledge and skills than draft role profiles give them credit for, the RCN argues Picture: iStock

Newly drafted senior nurse job profiles undervalue the responsibilities, skills and experience required for the roles and should not be adopted until they are amended, a nurse leader says.

The RCN says band 7, 8 and 9 nurses, such as ward managers and clinical nurse specialists, have significant clinical experience that enables them to develop and deliver advanced clinical skills. But it warns draft profiles created for these bands as part of a review do not place enough value on reflective practice and continuous evidence-based learning, nor on the research that informs practice.

Responding to a consultation on a review of senior job profiles by the NHS Staff Council job evaluation group, the college says reflective practice is essential to nurse leaders’ autonomy and responsibilities and that all the job profile updates should be reviewed in relation to one another.

Senior nurses’ clinical expertise underrated in draft job profiles

Agenda for Change nursing job profiles have not been updated for more than a decade and the review is something the RCN campaigned for. But college general secretary Nicola Ranger says: ‘The draft nursing profiles don’t assign enough value to clinical expertise from working in specialties and specialist teams or in wards.

‘Agenda for Change is now 20 years old and no longer reflects modern nursing and what’s expected of nursing staff in each pay band. Nursing is now a degree-educated, highly skilled, safety-critical role. This review is a unique opportunity to ensure nursing staff are not only correctly rewarded, but that the profession attracts a new generation of nurses with the right skills to deliver the level of care required.’

NHS Staff Council job evaluation group consultation findings

The NHS Staff Council job evaluation group is reviewing feedback from its separate consultation on bands 4, 5 and 6. Last October, it said it expected to publish the results of that process early in 2025. A timeline for the senior roles review is not yet known.

NHS Employers, which manages the job evaluation group, said it was unable to comment.


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