LOCALLY qualified nurses are soon to be allowed to live in subsidised States accommodation. The Health Department plans to act before formal agreement on a policy for housing ‘key workers’ such as nurses, teachers and police officers.
Minister Peter Roffey, right, said that he felt compelled to act to counter claims of discrimination and unfairness from nursing unions.
‘We have had this inequality for a long time because we pay all our staff the same, but some can enjoy below-market rental accommodation and this comes up every time we meet staff groups,’ he said.
Deputy Roffey added that a previous decision to let lowest grade qualified and student nurses into States-owned nurses’ accommodation had been delayed while the key worker report, approved by the States last week, was being considered. But the debate had encouraged him to make the move.
‘The flow of the debate was strongly against continuing this discrimination. We will now contact Housing to say we wish to start the process.
‘There seems to be a clear political will to do that and we would like to start to remove this discrimination in our own staff accommodation. If you don’t start, you never finish and there is always a good reason not to start.’
He was reluctant to put a time on the changes, which have been welcomed by the local branch of the Royal College of Nursing.
Local convener Bev Clark said that she believed that such an agreement had been reached some time ago. It was frustrating that many issues, including housing, had not been addressed some 10 years after the department overhauled policies to improve recruitment and retention of nurses.
‘It’s exceptionally frustrating 10 years on that nothing really has changed,’ she said.
But Ms Clark welcomed Deputy Roffey’s announcement and said that it would help to create a more level playing field.
‘I welcome this and the principle of it but it’s just going to solve part, not all, of the problem.’
Article posted on 2nd April, 2007 - 12.00am
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