How much should nurses be paid?

This is absolute rubbish.

For a start - any nurses in London will also earn a high cost area allowance, 20% of their salary for inner London, 15% outer London and 5% fringe. Plus any unsocial hours premiums typical of AHPs - paramedics for example get around 25% of their salary PLUS base salary PLUS high cost area = well over 35k.

Secondly, the £22k ~ is the absolute bottom of a typical band 5 nurse role. This band is for newly qualified nurses. Some Trusts still do preceptorship as well where after 6 months you go up a pay point and after another 6 months you go up another paypoint. The very top of band 5 is £28180 so even if you stayed in an absolute basic band 5 post for 7 years you would go up 7k.

Thirdly - there's a HUGE range of band 6, 7, and 8a+ nursing posts in the NHS. Nurses who have chosen a certain area e.g. lymphoedema, paediatrics, can get a band 6 nursing post. Band 6 salary STARTS at £26041 and again rises over the years. Then there are band 7 management posts and obviously Chief Nurse, Nursing Specialists etc.

Finally, there are band 8a+ Advanced Nurse Practitioner posts. ANPs earn more than a junior doctor would and their responsibilities are considered fairly commensurate with a junior doctor post.

Overall you are only going to stay on a band 5 if you are a really ****ty nurse or you don't put yourself out there for opportunities to move up. There is a HUGE range of posts for nurses, you don't have to just work in a hospital - there's school nurses, other community nursing posts as well as the private sector and you can also work for ambulance Trusts in the EOC/999 centres. Not to mention the Mary Seacole programme.

I personally think the band 5 nurse pay is pretty decent, especially considering that these days this will be nurses fresh out of university who will most of the time only be around 21/22. If you don't take advantage of the massive development and advancement opportunities open to you in the NHS that is your own fault.

extremely well put.from what I know nurses earn good money and move up the scale if they put their minds to it, I personally know of a ward sister who is only 26.