Pay per hour

13 years 10 months ago #308 by babyboo79
Hi everyone, i'm a senior dental nurse in a fully private practice in the North East with 11 years experience and extra qualifications. I think alot of people replying to this question are very lucky. I have just had a pay rise yet my hourly rate is only £7.50 p/h! We are a small practice but very busy, it seems extremely unfair if others around the country, especially trainees are getting more than £8 p/h!
I believe the dentists were rubbing their hands with glee when they got rid of the National Pay Scale for nurses. PLEASE HELP BRING IT BACK!!!!

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13 years 10 months ago #281 by thetoothfairy
hi,i`m with you on this one,multi tasking is part of the job I reckon.I`ve been a nurse for 23 yrs and never wake up not wanting to go to work.wages aren`t great but i live local so have very little to pay out for travel.It`s the registration fee and cpd thats unfair as we still work and trt pt`s under the supervision of a dentist.

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13 years 10 months ago #279 by stranger
hi. i'm still training and on £6 an hour which isnt geat really considering i nurse, order, do the refferrals, the practice portfolios, paperwork, cleaning and sterilising, technical support, rota-ing and some reception........but i love my job and wouldnt change my dentist for the world!

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13 years 10 months ago #278 by sazzle71
Hi, I've been qualified 20yrs this year and also have my oral health qualification. My current hourly rate is £9.06. Unfortunately we were refused a pay increase this year as i quote "Us dentists didnt get a pay rise, so why should you?" a bit of a kick in the teeth (pardon the pun!), and we have to pay for our registration and CPD ourselves too, UNFAIR!!

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13 years 10 months ago #274 by Newton
Ive just started at Dental Hospital so am on NHS banding. Works out about 9.30 and hour and goes up every year :) I have 4 years experience

Previous to this I worked in a NHS practice where I was employed as senior nurse...Started on £6 and hour JOKE for senior nurse. So I asked for a pay rise and got £6.50 an hour.....considering I was doing 2 jobs at once working in surgery mon - fri and being senior nurse, i felt it wasnt enough. I handed my notice in and my pay was risen to £8 so I stayed for a while to bide my time until I found another job

Dental Hosp offers more money, more holidays, more post quals, and more cpd and less responsibility because im not senior nurse anymore. ive hit the jackpot !! I hope to have a long future here !!!

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13 years 10 months ago #272 by clare
i think also, that the change in the nhs contract has hit some practices hard as well.
mine opted out of it and went private, but also seeing patients on benefits.

but the bands the treatments are now set in, make it impossible for some dentists to make enough to pay overheads. they still need to pay lab fees etc.. my surgery isn't getting patients who are willing to pay private fees coming through the door.

seems it's the nurses pay that has suffered the most.. :S

but saying that, i love my job, most of my patients are great and i wouldn't change what i do. :)

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13 years 10 months ago #271 by Pickle
Only £8.24 per hour? You're doin better than me!!

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13 years 10 months ago #266 by sammy09
Hi just replying to your comment on temp nurses , the reason we get payed a higher hourly rate is because we may not get work all the time ! and we dont get payed holidays including bank hols so being employed on a lower rate is prob better if you have bills to pay etc ive been a nurse for 26 yrs and temping for 1 yr now my hourly rate is £13.50 which is not fantastic considering and I would not be able to do this job if my husband did not work as well .

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13 years 10 months ago #264 by georgimagina
Thats made interesting reading, im in the North West. I'm 24 years old, I've been nursing for four years, qualified for two and i'm on......... £6.18!?! I think my pay increased last year by about 23p a MONTH after tax!!! It's an absolute joke, after reading what other people are getting paid its made me feel really unappreciated!! :S

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13 years 10 months ago #262 by shazza
One of our nurses only been doing the job 18 months and is on 8 pounds an hour. Don't know how some dentists get away with paying what they do.Our dentists have had to pay better cos we seem to have a shortage of nurses in our area and all nearby practices pay well.

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13 years 10 months ago #260 by Terrievamp
Hey ure lucky! I only get £7 phr! Been nursin 10yrs! x

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13 years 10 months ago #259 by clare
i've had nearly 30 years experience, and been at my current practice for 8 years.
i've just had a payrise of 50p and hour. that brings my hourly rate upto......... drum roll please to £8.50.
and that's being qualified too.

central london nurses get around £10 - 15 ph.
and agency ones al lot more that that.
not fair and not right. ah well....

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13 years 10 months ago #254 by saz66
ive been a dental nurse for 5 years in northern irelan and am on £7.25 an hour and i have post dental sedation course completed also. i am gettin paid less than some of the girls in my practice who have just qualified, and on approachin my boss was rejected of a pay rise, even thought r practice has just grew by another 2dentists, meanin we have 6 dentists and 2 hygienists!! :(

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13 years 10 months ago #253 by suction_monkey
Hi i am new to this site but pay is an issue for me as well. I have been nursing for 11 years and have the radiography qualification and am the RPS yet our receptionists are on the same hourly wage as the nurses I think I am on £9.80 ish an hour am I am don't think I get anymore than the girls without post grad qualifications. I think we work very hard but our wages don't reflect this. :(

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13 years 10 months ago #252 by cazsheru
hi,
Lucky you I get £6 an hour with 9yrs behind me!!!

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13 years 10 months ago #239 by elyse_joyce
Hello How Are Everyone Tonight?
Everyone Tired From Work,, Long Dat Its Been Today

E L Joyce

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13 years 10 months ago #238 by shazza
lol4pol. that is shocking!!! One nurse at our practice has only been nursing 3 years and is on 8 pounds an hour. Another nurse has done 7 years and is on 9!!

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13 years 10 months ago #232 by lol4pol
Hi there, ive been a dental nurse for 16 years & get paid less than £8 an hour!! The wages are shocking. The worst thing they done was scrap the fee scale. With the fee scale you're employer had to pay you according to this. :(

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13 years 10 months ago #231 by Vms118
bhirchfeld's post demonstrates my earlier point - if you want a good wage in life change career. She is clearly competent, knows what she is doing (it sounds like she mentors VT's) and is likely skilled in a lot of area's with all of the experience she has, yet her rate p/h is still easily achievable in other industries with little training or experience. Sad times :(

Victorus Aut Mortis.

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13 years 10 months ago #230 by stacey
Hi im a newly qualifyied DN have been working for just over 2 yrs now was on 6.50 before qualifying and have jst been put upto 7.50 is this a reasonable rise on qualification? definately think DN's should have more recognition in the dental industry + better pay. dont think dentists realise how lost they would be without us - i work with a young dentist who sits swinging on his chair while i run about mad and then complains hes tired! hasnt moved off his chair the whole day!

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13 years 10 months ago #229 by bhirchfeld
I'm 57 been nursing 17yrs over 41yrs and I get 8.36 an hr. I teach other nurses and new dentist,do all the ordering,and other nursing things

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13 years 10 months ago #210 by MLA
Hi
This is an interesting debate but there are a few things I think are important and will affect the wages
1.What area you work in, in the country.
2.What area you work in, in that part of the country
3.How old you are
4.How long you have been working as a DN ( or alternatively if you are student DN).
5.What your duties are
6.If it is an NHS practice, Hospital or Private work place
7.What other post qualifications you have (and actually perform)
8.How many dentists or hygienists there are

I am sure it will be more things to take in to consideration but these are probably the basics.

I truly believe that a strong Union will be necessary and yes, it will be a hard job to get started but it will pay in the end. :cheer:

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13 years 10 months ago #209 by Twiki
Just checked minimum wage (i know it can be at dentists discretion too) just out of interest sake

Minimum wage is due to change again in october
•£5.80 to £5.93 an hour for workers aged 21 and over
•£4.83 to £4.92 an hour for workers aged 18 to 20
•£3.57 to £3.64 an hour for workers aged 16 to 17

Hope this helps and def going from a good nurse to a great nurse certainly makes all the difference ;)

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13 years 10 months ago #208 by angel
I totally agree. If you don`t open your mouth don`t expect to get paid more. It is not up to the practice managers but the dentist. Most of the practice managers don`t even understand the hard work you put in at the end of the day but the dentist do.

The key is to go from being a good nurse to a great nurse. :laugh:

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13 years 10 months ago #201 by nush_82
where money is concerend with dental nurses, we all think we are under paid (which is true)................what i don't understand is, if your practice manager thinks your a good nurse, your good at your job, loyal etc why the heck do they insist on battling you down when you ask them for a pay rise, tell you THEY think your on good money if you thought that you would never have gone there in the first place!!!
My moto is...........if you dont ask, you won't get, just make sure you fight your corner and never ever threaten to leave.

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13 years 10 months ago #200 by shazza
Think I'm doing okay as far as jobs go. I have 22 years experience earn 11.16 an hour and get 6 weeks paid holiday. If the dentist is off for a week or so he doesn't expect me to put a full week in as long as all the work is done. In the past he has paid my years car tax as a bonus for me and has given me money to treat my kids when I'm off work.Just want you all to know dentists are not all the same. Mine is a diamond!! :)

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13 years 10 months ago #199 by Verity
not really, ive just started as a trainee nurse, i have great gcse's and alevels, but im only on £5.10 an hour in the midlands area. is that bad? i work for a very large company.

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13 years 10 months ago #197 by hippykat82
I work in the Cotsworlds, private practice, i know nurses less experienced than myself, working NHS and getting more than i am!!! Maybe i should go back working for the NHS again....or move to the big city :/

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13 years 10 months ago #192 by sammy09
Hi I am a nurse with 26 years experience I was working in a referral practise and earning 26'000 a yr now I have moved away the only way i can get a decent hourly rate is to temp or work for myself , give it a go there is a lot of work out there if you have a car and are prepared to travel a bit and join a good agency ! Hourly Rates depend on experience average £12 to £15 an hour if you work for yourself you can charge a bit more !!

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13 years 11 months ago #186 by Twiki
I work in a private referral clinic, which fair enough has been hit slightly by the recession but its slowly but surely picking up. Our practice manager (not dentally qualified) is on £35k our senior nurse is on £25k and us nurses are on between £15.5 and £18k. the only diff between the nurses is that our senior nurse does the ordering and makes up the rotas (which we really dont need and its a big waste of time except during annual leave) so what i dont get is that other than her experience and ordering things shes getting up to £10k more a year than us for doing the same job!! insane.

I know we are complaining about something that we could be talking to our boses about but some are unapproachable (i did approach old boss about my pay) and you dont want to seem greedy by asking for more. But when we have to go through so much training - half of which we never really have to use i.e position of the nerves in the face serves what purpose for us exactly? We do so much for the practices we work in, sterilising, ordering, clearing up, setting up, packaging lab work, some reception duties, monitoring the patients, charting the list goes on, but yet the dentists fail to realise that if we werent there then would they know where to start. All we are looking for is recognition for the job we are doing and the blood sweat and some tears that we have shed to get us to where we all are now. We pay for registration the same as them, we have to complete CPD the same as them. Some of us are tutors, some of us may be mentors but at the end of the day we are all essential members of what makes up the dental TEAM.
I only hope that things improve for us. perhaps the GDC will see we are not moaning for the sake of it, but because its our right as part of that team to get the recognition we deserve.

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13 years 11 months ago #184 by Louise
It all depends on experience , where in the country you work,and what duties you perform.I work in a Private Practice in central London most Nurses around here earn between £25000-30000 Practice managers earn about 35000.Newly qualified Nurses start on about 22000-25000.

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13 years 11 months ago #183 by mm21
I think every nurse should be on £10-£20.00
We are not working in a poor industry!!!! We are working for wealthy people and do so much! If patients knew how much the nurse was paid I think they would be shocked!

I know a nurse on £45k......... that is a lot but should NOT be a shock.

Seriously it should not be o.k to think that £10.00 is a good wage to settle on. It is this way of thinking that has allowed dentists to get away with paying a lower wage. Every practice I have walked into I have asked for £14.00 and above. In one practice I was paid £17.30 and double time over 7 hours.

I worked for one dentist for 5 years and he was even more generous.

We seriously have to stop thinking that this is o.k.....

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13 years 11 months ago #182 by joannep
After reading all the messages, I now realise how lucky me and the nurses are at our practice. We are all on between £10.50 and £11.50 per hour depending on experience - I have 27 years worth!
The surgery is in the South-East

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13 years 11 months ago #181 by Vms118
Would you say that your company isa fairly successful one? Seems a large factor in pay rates too me (which makes sense of course)

Victorus Aut Mortis.

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13 years 11 months ago #180 by kiwidentalnurse
If you are GDC registered with more than three years experience and have assisted for a variety of dentists. Minimum 9 per hour I work for company who have a few surgeries dotted around and most of the nurses with that level of experience earn around between 9 - 10.50 per hour. I
Hope that helps!

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13 years 11 months ago #175 by Vms118
Uh...you mean it is £4.50? that is liie ilegal, the nat min wage for 21+ is something like £5.60..or whereabouts.

I'd check the goverment website (gov.net or something) it'll all be opn there.

Victorus Aut Mortis.

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13 years 11 months ago #174 by emmamortimer
thanks for all the great comments guys

i will be talking to my practice manager this afternoon !

wish me luck !!!

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13 years 11 months ago #173 by Twiki
Yeah exactly what i was thinking. Hope its more than £4.50 now!!!

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13 years 11 months ago #172 by Vms118
I'm hoping you mean that you went to £4.50 like 6 years ago and not right now right?...gulp...

:laugh:

Victorus Aut Mortis.

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13 years 11 months ago #171 by nicolaf
7 yrs ago i started off on £4.00 an hr then went up to £4.50. woo hoo. lol. What ur getiing now is very good as a trainee.
Is there anybody working in the croydon area?, as i would like to know if my current pay is reasonable.

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13 years 11 months ago - 13 years 11 months ago #160 by Iain
Miss_Floss, that's reasonable for a trainee dental nurse. I started on the minimum wage and the trainees at the practice where I work now are on the minimum wage too.

The last practice I worked at had a set pay scale which they've just increased - their trainees are on £6.65 an hour! I wish the pay was as this generous when I first started dental nursing!

It is annoying to know that people in supermarkets and such places get more than we do! I know someone who works in a call centre who is on more than me! It's frustrating, but for some reason I just love the job... despite patients being rude to me! I was called a ****head the other week! Charming!

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13 years 11 months ago #159 by Iain
Hmm, that does seem rather low with your experience and your duties.

I used to get £7.50 an hour with only three and a half years experience. I wasn't qualified but I was registered.

I actually get less than that now - I took a pay cut at the new practice where I am now simply because of more suitable working hours. I work longer hours so I get a day off, while still getting around the same monthly income that I did when I was on £7.50 per hour. I loose out on some money but it means I get an extra day of rest, which is definitely needed! :)

It's such a shame that some employers do not pay us on merit (i.e. experience, duties, etc.) and the fact that it is a registered profession. Personally, being a dental nurse is much more than just a job, but the lack of appreciation and respect, particularly shown in the wage, does often frustrate me! I don't think some dentists see it from that angle though, but hey ho!

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13 years 11 months ago #158 by Miss_Floss
As you know if you have read my blogg I am a trainee...I am on £6.20 an hour, is this reasonable?

I know people who work in Morrisons who earn more :S

They don't have the occupational hazards or messy work that we have to deal with...

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13 years 11 months ago #156 by Vms118
Lord, can you imagine trying to set up a union? that would be more than a full time job just doing that..phew...

Victorus Aut Mortis.

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13 years 11 months ago #154 by mm21
Have you asked your boss for a pay rise? What did he/she say?

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13 years 11 months ago #153 by mm21
I believe if we can get enough nurses together and form a sort of union- strange we don't have one already, we can definitely change the pay scale!

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13 years 11 months ago #152 by Vms118
Sounds to me that you have either not put forward enough/strong arguments to get a rise - it can be hard i know. Or you are undervalued, it aint gonna change and need to look for another job :(

Victorus Aut Mortis.

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13 years 11 months ago #149 by emmamortimer
I'm in Oxfordshire, yes your right we need to all pull together and something done about it !!!

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13 years 11 months ago #148 by mm21
Which part of the country do you work in?
Considering there is a national shortage of dental nurses the low pay scale does not make any sense!!! I know agencies that are crying out for nurses!!

I seriously think something can be done about this. What say us nurses all pulled together and were to strike? We may not need to go to those extremes. At the end of the day it is the dentists who are paying a lower wage so we need to somehow target them. There are over 40,000 nurses. If we can even get a couple thousand together to bring up this serious issue we really can move this into the right direction, if not for ourselves- for the next generation of nurses.

As a nurses we really must take matters into our own hands since there is no real support elsewhere!

I am just getting my ideas out there, I obviously don't want to go to any extremes but we must stop complaining and start doing!!

If we were in an industry, for instance science, where you know there is little funding for those types of jobs I could understand. We are in a wealthy if not very wealthy industry if we are being honest and so it is ridiculous that some nurses are paid the minimum wage!!!!!

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13 years 11 months ago #147 by emmamortimer
Hi, i nurse do the ordering once a week, sterilise instruments, dip slides and also give children OH advice. So its bit more than just nursing !!

I haven't had a pay rise for 2 years now and that was the rate of inflation, so feel very under valued !

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13 years 11 months ago #146 by Vms118
It's a bit of relative question really isn't it this classic one... I think sometimes the tile of DN means so many things to different employers.

What is your role? do you literally go in to work, nurse...sterilise....nurse? or do you have other responsibilities? But yes I also know 2 trainees on more than me and i've been doing this 4 years (private practice) :(

Victorus Aut Mortis.

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13 years 11 months ago #145 by emmamortimer
Hi all, I'm a qualified dental nurse with 15 years experience. I wondered does anyone know what hourly rate I should be paid....as I'm only on £8.24 per hour ! I know some trainee nurse's on more than me !!!! :(

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