HEALTH workers in Moray could be frozen out of NHS Grampian plans to solve a staffing crisis by boosting wages.
The board has revealed it is considering London-style living allowances for workers as it struggles to lure GPs and nurses to the region. The incentive payments could cost the board £21million a year.
But one option being considered is to exclude Moray from a scheme which could give staff in oil-rich Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire a 5% pay increase.
As NHS Grampian warned of a “significant risk” to frontline services because of staff shortages, one nurse revealed he had taken a second job to boost his wages. Jamie Donaldson, 42, a support nurse at the Royal Cornhill psychiatric hospital in Aberdeen, said: “I get another £100 a week working as a doorman, and that is the only reason I can stay with NHS Grampian.”
