The government has been critcised for misleading the public over a television advert that said average full-time trained nurses earn more than 20,000 a year. Some of the complainants said it was only possible to earn more than 20,000 if London weighting was included. And some said the claim might harm the nursing profession's public image in pay negotiations by suggesting nurses were better paid than they were in reality. The ITC accepted that the statement about earnings was factually correct, but remained concerned that viewers would be confused as to its meaning Independent Television Commission ruling The advert featured the case of a boy knocked down by a car whose life was saved by an NHS team comprising 22 nurses working across accident and emergency, operating theatre, intensive care and paediatric units. It was screened as part of an intensive government campaign designed to recruit nurses to the NHS, which is struggling to cope with thousands of vacancies.
Ministers say that they have succeeded in attracting many new nurses to the profession.
The Department of Health, which supplied the figures used to calculate the sum, said it had collected details of gross earnings for August each year from a representative sample of 70,000 full-time NHS nurses. While management and other senior grades were left out of the calculations, the figures used incorporated allowances on top of the value of basic salaries. From the Department of Health's explanation it was clear that what it actually meant was that the total earnings of all nurses on grades D to G averaged to around 20,000, including leads and allowances. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Links to other Health stories are at the foot of the page.