Trust offers band 5 nurses £1,000 'golden hello' bonus

An NHS trust is offering a £1,000 ‘golden hello’ bonus as part of a recruitment drive for band 5 nurses.

The incentive has already been paid to 18 adult mental health nurses who have joined Humber NHS Foundation Trust. 

Recruits receive a £500 bonus on appointment, plus a further £500 after a year’s service if they commit to another 6 months in post.

National shortages 

The trust, which provides mental health and learning disability services, needs to recruit more nurses for its adult inpatient units, and this is where the majority of the new recruits have been placed.

Its clinical care director for adult mental health Paul Johnson said the trust is affected by national nursing shortages.

‘Another issue we have is because of our geography,’ according to Mr Johnson.

More opportunities 

He added that working in adult inpatient units could be ‘very intense’, and that an increase in national funding for early psychosis intervention has created more band 6 opportunities in community services. 

The trust is also offering flexible hours, revalidation support and development initiatives, including peer support, as part of nurse preceptorship.

An initiative to aid promotion from bands 5 to 6 is being considered.

Multifaceted approach 

Mr Johnson said: ‘We do not believe that just offering the payment incentive is the right thing to attract staff. 

‘It is one part of a multifaceted approach to get staff to improve the quality of care we need. 

‘The bigger part is around the development opportunities and preceptorship.’

The ‘golden hello’ has been offered since March and will be reviewed this month.