HEALTH bosses were today branded "mean" for not paying community nurses millennium bonuses for working on New Year's Eve.

A group of nurses on duty during the evening of December 31 will get no bonus because their shifts

finish at 11pm.

Night shift staff starting work at 11pm will get a £150 bonus. Staff who are on call during the evening will get £50, regardless of whether they are called out.

But the South Downs Health NHS Trust has ruled the bonuses will not be paid to any staff working the evening shift up to 11pm as part of a Sussex-wide deal with unions.

The six community nurses, who provide care to people in their homes, say they feel undervalued and demoralised by the decision.

They were supported by Kemp Town MP Des Turner, who said it was "pretty mean" of bosses to withhold special millennium payments from the nurses.

He said: "Even if they are a bit cash strapped it is so important to treat staff properly. They absolutely ought to do it."

Hove MP Ivor Caplin agreed, saying: "It does appear a bit mean-spirited, I have to say.

"They should be paid the proper overtime rate and also paid something for working on Millennium Eve."

The trust is offering nurses and other staff one-off bonuses ranging from £25 to £150 for working, or being on call, on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

All staff will be paid for working on a bank holiday but the trust is adamant evening workers should not get millennium bonuses.

Spokesman Sue Trimingham said the payments had been agreed with staff and unions.

Nurses who worked past the 11pm cut-off would

be entitled to some extra cash.

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