A bonus scheme for those in nurse manager jobs and other healthcare roles is being considered by a national committee, according to Nursing Times.

The Department of Health's national quality board has been debating the possibility of developing an incentive scheme similar to the consultants' clinical excellence awards, which gives payouts to doctors of up to £75,796. These awards are on top of their salaries, and often continue for a number of years.

Now, the DoH wants to extend the scheme to nurses and other professionals.

"If there's going to be money available to reward excellence, then the philosophy should be aligned to all healthcare professionals who equally provide excellent contributions to the NHS," said Barrie Brown, Unite lead officer for nursing.

This was echoed by Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish health secretary, who said all healthcare professionals should be included in the incentive.

"I think this is a great idea," said Mike, who commented on the Nursing Times website. "But saying that, I think they should get a decent wage sorted out for us first, and then they should start talking about bonuses."

The recommendations form part of the recommendations being made to the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards, which was launched last month by health secretary Andrew Lansley.