Staff in GP surgeries and primary care centres have gone above and beyond during the pandemic. However, despite their dedication and commitment, primary care staff remain some of the lowest paid members of the healthcare workforce, with receptionists and administrators routinely paid no more than the minimum wage.
Primary care workers shouldn’t have to face low pay and in-work poverty. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has made a commitment to make Greater Manchester the UK’s first Foundation Living Wage city region, meaning that public service employers in healthcare should be moving towards the foundation living wage of £9.90 per hour. UNISON is engaged in discussions with public service leaders about how we can make the living wage commitment real for health and social care workers, including in primary care and GP surgeries, and deliver a pay rise for thousands of NHS staff.
In order to help shape the campaign, we need to know about your pay and conditions and how work affects you.
Responses will be confidential and anonymised before data is published at a statistical level. We’ll use the information you provide to help build our campaign and make progress in our discussions with leaders in the healthcare sector such as primary care employers, integrated care boards, and politicians.
Ultimately, our union want to hold them to their commitment to build a living wage city region, and work with them to help ensure you are paid fairly.
We also want to know whether you’ve been subject to abuse or violence at work, and your experience of dealing with difficult patients in your practice. This will help us speak up for you in discussions we are currently having with primary care workforce leaders about keeping primary care staff safe in Greater Manchester.
If you work in primary care, please complete this survey. All information is confidential and individual responses will not be shared with your employer, but by completing the survey you give UNISON consent to contact you in relation to this campaign and where necessary/applicable, to update your contact information on your membership record.