Article was not a true reflection

There are two types of unqualified nursing staff -- Nursing Assistants and Support Workers. Both perform exactly the same duties, yet the nursing assistants are paid considerably more than the support workers.

This is bound to cause low morale when staff discover that they are being paid less than their colleagues for performing exactly the same duties, with the same level of responsibility involved.

More often than not, support workers are unaware of this discrimination in pay scales when they are appointed. When they discover the truth, however, they find better paid jobs elsewhere, usually within the Communicare NHS Trust, which offers a better rate of pay, fewer unsocial hours (unlike Calderstones).

Sleep-in, night duty and overtime payments are also considerably less at Calderstones.

Taking all these things into consideration, it is hardly surprising that support workers are leaving in droves (because that is exactly what is happening).

The promise of better pay only comes with the commitment to undertake and complete an NVQ course. Hardly an incentive when you consider that some of this work has to be done in the employee's own time, added to the fact that not everyone wants to be bothered with what some consider to be academic work.

The question that should be asked of Calderstones chief executive Russ Pierce, is: "Of the staff you say have been recently recruited, how many are support workers and how many are still there?"

Staffing levels and morale will only improve when the Calderstones management pay all non-qualified nursing staff the same rate of pay for the same job. The work is stressful enough without staff feeling undervalued and underpaid, merely because they have a different job title than the rest of their work colleagues.

EX-CALDERSTONES employee (name and address received)