Cath Lab Nurse Salary 2026/27

Last updated: 31 October 2026 · Figures verified against the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

Cath lab nurse pay 2026/27: the Band 5 and Band 6 scales

England awarded Agenda for Change staff 3.3% from 1 April 2026, and the award was paid on time in April salaries. The scales below are the 2026/27 England scales for a full-time 37.5-hour week. Hourly rates are annual pay divided by 52.2 weeks and then by 37.5 hours, rounded to the nearest penny, and enhancement and overtime rates on this page are calculated from that rounded hourly rate. Monthly pay is annual pay divided by 12. Weekly pay is annual pay divided by 52.2. For the wider picture at each band, including the roles that share these scales, see the Band 5 salary guide and the Band 6 salary guide.

The table carries six steps because a cath lab team uses two bands in one room. A Band 5 nurse works as part of the team for diagnostic angiograms and interventions, preparing patients, monitoring observations, and assisting with equipment and documentation. A Band 6 nurse runs lists, scrubs and circulates for complex cases, and takes charge of the lab on a shift, including the decision to call in extra staff when a case runs long. Reading only the Band 6 top figure, £48,117, would mislead a nurse applying for a first cath lab post, and reading only the Band 5 entry figure, £32,073, would understate what a senior cath lab nurse earns. The step matters as much as the band: a Band 5 nurse at the top, on £39,043, earns only £916 a year less than a Band 6 nurse at entry, on £39,959, and a Band 6 nurse who has just moved up can earn less in cash terms than a long-serving Band 5 colleague once on-call frequency is counted. That overlap is normal in Agenda for Change, and it is the reason adverts should be checked for the exact step, not just the band.

What a cath lab nurse actually does

A cath lab nurse works in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory, where cardiologists diagnose and treat heart disease through a thin tube passed into an artery, usually in the wrist or groin, and guided to the heart under X-ray screening. The work splits into three jobs that rotate through a list. The scrub nurse prepares and passes equipment inside the sterile field, keeping count of wires, balloons, stents and catheters as the case proceeds. The circulating nurse works outside the sterile field, preparing the patient, giving medicines as directed, fetching equipment, and keeping the record of what was done. The monitoring nurse watches the heart rhythm, blood pressure and oxygen levels, and speaks to the patient throughout, since most patients are awake, though sedated, for the procedure. A nurse in a small lab may do all three jobs across a week, while a nurse in a large heart centre may specialise in one of them, and the pay scale is the same either way.

The cases themselves range from routine to urgent. A diagnostic angiogram takes pictures of the coronary arteries to show where narrowings sit, and may end with no intervention at all, if the pictures show that medicines, not a stent, are the right treatment. An elective angioplasty, often called PCI, opens a narrowed artery with a balloon and usually leaves a stent in place. A primary PCI is the emergency version, for a patient having a heart attack, where the artery is opened as fast as possible, day or night. Device work is a separate stream in many labs: pacemakers and defibrillators fitted under local anaesthetic, with the nurse monitoring the patient and managing the sterile field. The cardiac physiologist salary guide covers the other half of the lab team, since physiologists run the recording and pacing equipment and often work side by side with nurses on the same lists.

One point of confusion is worth clearing up at the start. A cath lab nurse is not the same as a cardiac ward nurse, although the two work in the same department and share patients. A cardiac ward nurse cares for patients before and after a procedure, manages recovery, medicines and discharge, and works a ward rota. A cath lab nurse works inside the procedure itself, in a lead apron, in a room run on strict radiation and sterility rules, with a small team and a fixed list. The cardiac nurse salary guide covers ward-based cardiology nursing at Bands 5 to 6, and the theatre nurse salary guide covers the closest parallel role, since theatre nursing shares the scrub, circulating and sterile-field skills that cath lab work depends on.

Band 5 versus Band 6: what actually changes

Band 5 is the staff nurse grade in the lab. The Band 5 cath lab nurse prepares patients, monitors observations, assists in the sterile field, and learns the range of cases on the list, from diagnostic angiograms to elective PCI. Band 6 changes the centre of gravity. The senior nurse runs the list, decides the order of cases when a list overruns, scrubs for complex and emergency cases, trains Band 5 nurses, and takes charge of the lab when the consultant is in another room. The difference between Band 5 and Band 6 is therefore less about handling one patient and more about owning the list: one nurse in a team versus the nurse who keeps the whole list moving safely.

That responsibility difference explains the pay gaps in the table. Moving from the top of Band 5, £39,043, to the entry of Band 6, £39,959, adds only £916 a year, because the move is about taking on list leadership rather than a leap in seniority. The larger rises sit inside each band: Band 5 rises £6,970 from entry to top, and Band 6 rises £8,158 from entry to top, as annual progression moves a nurse through the steps. A nurse planning a move should therefore weigh the step they will enter on, not just the band label, and should ask at interview which step the post is advertised at. A Band 5 nurse at the top who moves to Band 6 entry gains £916 in basic pay but also gains the charge-nurse workload and a larger share of the on-call rota, so the move is worth making for the career, not for a sudden pay jump.

Unsocial hours: planned lists pay plain time, emergency rotas pay more

Agenda for Change Section 2 pays Bands 4 to 9 time plus 30% for Saturday and weekday night hours, defined as 8pm to 6am, and time plus 60% for Sunday and public-holiday hours. Cath lab work splits sharply on this rule. Planned diagnostic and elective lists run in daytime hours, so a nurse on a day-only lab earns almost no enhancement in a normal month. Emergency primary PCI work is the opposite: it runs through the night and at weekends, so a nurse on a heart attack centre rota earns a large share of pay in enhancement. The unsocial hours and overtime guide explains the Section 2 rules in full.

Worked through, a Band 5 nurse at entry on £16.38 an hour earns £21.29 for a Saturday or night hour and £26.21 for a Sunday hour. A Band 6 nurse at the top on £24.58 earns £31.95 and £39.33 for the same hours. A single 7.5-hour Sunday shift at the top of Band 6 is therefore worth £294.98 before tax, against £184.35 at plain time, a difference of £110.63 for that one shift. A nurse comparing two cath lab posts should ask how the rota actually works: whether the lab is a day-only diagnostic service or a 24-hour primary PCI centre, how many weekends and nights are on the rota, and whether weekend lists are planned Saturday sessions or emergency call-outs, because those answers change the annual pay far more than the basic scale does.

Overtime: time and a half, double on bank holidays

Overtime in Agenda for Change means hours above 37.5 in a week for full-time staff. Bands 1 to 7 earn time and a half for overtime and double time on bank and public holidays. Part-time staff earn plain time, plus any unsocial enhancement that applies, for hours above their contracted hours up to 37.5, and overtime rates only above 37.5. Overtime and unsocial-hours enhancement cannot both be claimed for the same hours, so a nurse picks the better treatment for those hours or takes time off in lieu instead of pay. For a Band 5 nurse at entry, overtime is £24.57 an hour and bank-holiday overtime is £32.76 an hour. For a Band 5 nurse at the top, overtime is £29.93 an hour and bank-holiday overtime is £39.90 an hour. For a Band 6 nurse at entry, overtime is £30.62 an hour and bank-holiday overtime is £40.82 an hour. For a Band 6 nurse at the top, overtime is £36.87 an hour and bank-holiday overtime is £49.16 an hour. Those rates are calculated from the rounded plain hourly rates in the first table, which is how payroll applies them.

Cath labs generate overtime in a pattern that is easy to miss from the outside. A list that overruns because a case proves complex, an emergency primary PCI that arrives as a planned list ends, or a device case that needs extra time will all ask the team to stay late, then go quiet for days. Additional Saturday lists are a regular feature of services trying to cut waiting times for diagnostic angiograms. A nurse comparing two posts should ask how often lists overrun and how often extra lists are actually offered, because a post that regularly runs late pays more than its basic plus rota enhancement suggests, while a post with lists that finish on time pays only its basic. Neither figure is in the basic scale, so neither appears in a job advert headline.

On-call: primary PCI rotas are the pay question this page cannot answer with a national figure

Some cath labs run a 24-hour primary PCI service, and nurses on that rota take turns being on call overnight and at weekends, ready to come in and open a lab at short notice when a heart attack patient arrives. There is no national on-call rate for cath lab nurses to quote, and this page does not invent one. Trusts set availability payments and call-out payments locally, and some fold on-call into a rota allowance instead. The frequency matters as much as the rate: a rota that calls a nurse in twice a week pays very differently from one that calls twice a month, even on the same availability payment. Ask for the local terms in writing before accepting a post, along with the expected call-out frequency, how travel time for call-outs is treated, whether a call-out that runs past midnight counts as night enhancement, and how rest after a night call-out is handled. The on-call allowance guide covers the closest parallel rules for nursing on-call in general, and the ICU nurse salary guide covers another on-call-heavy specialty for comparison.

The on-call question also cuts the other way, and it should be weighed honestly. A primary PCI rota means broken sleep, missed weekends, and a phone that can ring at 3am on a night when the nurse is officially off duty but on call. The money compensates for that disruption, but it does not remove it. A nurse who values predictable evenings and weekends should look for a day-only diagnostic lab, and should accept that the basic pay will be the whole pay, with little enhancement on top. A nurse who wants the extra income and the emergency work should look for a heart attack centre, and should check the rota size, because a rota shared between ten nurses calls each nurse far less often than a rota shared between four. The rota size is a pay fact, even though it never appears in a salary table.

London weighting: what HCAS adds

High Cost Area Supplement in 2026/27 is 20% of basic pay in inner London, subject to a minimum of £5,794 and a maximum of £8,746, 15% in outer London, subject to a minimum of £4,870 and a maximum of £6,137, and 5% in the fringe zone, subject to a minimum of £1,346 and a maximum of £2,270. The minimums help at Band 5 entry, where 15% of £32,073 is £4,810.95, below the outer minimum, so the nurse receives £4,870 instead, giving a total of £36,943 in outer London. A Band 5 nurse at entry in inner London earns £38,487.60 in total, which is £32,073 plus £6,414.60. A Band 5 nurse at the top in inner London earns £46,851.60, which is £39,043 plus £7,808.60. A Band 6 nurse at entry in inner London earns £47,950.80, which is £39,959 plus £7,991.80. A Band 6 nurse at the top in inner London earns £56,863, which is £48,117 plus the capped £8,746, not the uncapped £9,623.40. A Band 6 nurse at the top in outer London earns £54,254, which is £48,117 plus the capped £6,137. In the fringe zone, a Band 5 nurse at entry earns £33,676.65, which is £32,073 plus £1,603.65. The full zone rules are in the London weighting guide.

The cap has a practical consequence for anyone choosing between two London posts. Once the cap is reached, extra basic pay from moving up a step adds nothing to HCAS, so the total pay gap between two capped posts is exactly the basic pay gap, no more. A Band 6 nurse at the top in inner London and a Band 6 nurse at the intermediate step in inner London differ by £5,947 in basic pay, £48,117 against £42,170, and by the same £5,947 in total pay, because both receive the same £8,746 supplement. Outside London, the same step move also adds nothing extra, since there is no supplement at all. London weighting therefore helps most at the lower steps, where the percentage still has room to grow, and helps least, in proportional terms, at the top of Band 6.

Pension: what comes off the payslip

NHS pension contributions in England and Wales are tiered by pensionable pay. The 2026/27 member tiers used here are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, and have not yet been formally published. On those provisional tiers, a Band 5 cath lab nurse pays 8.3% at entry and the intermediate step, £221.84 and £239.26 a month, and 9.8% at the top, £318.85 a month. A Band 6 cath lab nurse pays 9.8% at every step, from £326.33 a month at entry to £392.96 a month at the top. The employer contributes 23.7% on top of pensionable pay, which is £11,403.73 a year at the top of Band 6. That employer sum does not appear on the payslip, but it is part of the value of the job, and it is one reason NHS pension membership is worth keeping even when the monthly deduction feels large. The pension contributions guide explains the tiers and the provisional status in full.

The tier boundary inside Band 5 catches people out. A nurse who moves from the intermediate step, £34,592, to the top, £39,043, crosses from the 8.3% tier into the 9.8% tier, so the monthly deduction jumps from £239.26 to £318.85, a rise of £79.59 a month, while gross monthly pay rises by £370.91. Net pay still rises, but by less than the gross rise suggests, and a nurse who budgets on the gross figure will be surprised. Checking the tier before accepting a promotion is a five-minute job that prevents a nasty first payslip.

Part-time work, annual leave and uniform relief

Part-time pay in Agenda for Change is pro rata to the whole-time equivalent fraction. A Band 5 cath lab nurse at entry on a 0.8 whole-time equivalent contract earns £25,658.40 a year, a Band 6 cath lab nurse at entry on a 0.8 contract earns £31,967.20 a year, and a Band 6 cath lab nurse at the top on a 0.6 contract earns £28,870.20 a year. Unsocial-hours percentages and HCAS apply to the pro rata basic in the same way as to a full-time basic, and pension contributions are calculated on the actual pensionable pay, not the whole-time equivalent figure. Part-time cath lab work needs the on-call rota agreed in advance, because a primary PCI rota cannot run on a nurse who is never available out of hours, so a part-time nurse should ask how on-call is shared before accepting a post. The part-time pay guide works through the pro rata maths.

Annual leave in England under Agenda for Change Section 13 is 27 days plus 8 bank holidays for up to 4 years of service, 29 days plus 8 bank holidays from 5 years, and 33 days plus 8 bank holidays from 10 years, pro rata for part-time staff. Cath lab nurses wear scrubs provided by the trust, so laundry is usually a trust service, but nurses who wash their own uniform can claim HMRC flat-rate expenses of £125 for laundry, which gives tax relief of £25 a year at the basic rate and £50 a year at the higher rate, claimed without receipts where the employer provides no laundry service or allowance. The annual leave guide and the uniform tax rebate guide carry the full rules. Radiation protection is a working condition worth asking about at interview, since cath lab nurses wear lead aprons for long lists, and trusts provide dosimetry monitoring, but no national radiation supplement is quoted on this page, because no such Agenda for Change rate is in the verified data file.

Cath lab nurse versus theatre nurse: the same sterile skills, a different room

Pay differs between a cath lab nurse and a theatre nurse mainly through the rota, not through basic pay. Both earn the same basic for the same band and step, and both earn the same HCAS for the same zone. The theatre nurse works in an operating theatre, with a surgical team, a general or regional anaesthetic, and a list of operations that may run for hours. The cath lab nurse works in a smaller room, with a cardiologist, a physiologist and a radiographer, a patient who is usually awake, and cases that are shorter but more numerous. The theatre nurse may earn more unsocial-hours money on a 24-hour emergency theatre rota, while the cath lab nurse may earn more on-call money on a primary PCI rota, depending on local terms. A nurse choosing between the two should weigh the work honestly: cath lab work offers fast, visible results, a small team, and the chance to see a blocked artery open in front of you, while theatre work offers a wider range of surgery and a larger team. The pay is fair for the band. The rota, the on-call terms, and the split between planned lists and emergency work are what should decide the choice between two posts at the same band.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Scotland awarded 3.75% from 1 April 2026 and moved to a 36-hour week from April 2026, which changes both the hourly maths and the overtime threshold, since overtime in Scotland starts above 36 hours rather than 37.5. Scotland Band 5 pays £34,494 to £42,977, which is £18.36 to £22.87 an hour on the 36-hour week, higher than England Band 5 in both annual and hourly terms. Wales awarded 3.3%, implemented 1 April 2026 and paid on time, and Wales Band 5 pays £32,557 at entry, £35,114 at the intermediate step and £39,631 at the top, which is £16.63, £17.94 and £20.25 an hour on the 37.5-hour week. Northern Ireland has a 3.3% recommendation for 2026/27 that has not been implemented, so no 2026/27 Northern Ireland figure is quoted here, and staff in Northern Ireland should not budget on the recommended figure until it is confirmed. Scotland and Wales Band 6 step figures are not in the verified data file used for this page, so they are not quoted, and a nurse comparing a Scottish or Welsh Band 6 post with an English one should ask the trust for the local scale in writing. The Scotland pay guide, the Wales pay guide and the Northern Ireland pay guide carry the national pictures, and the Agenda for Change guide explains how the four nations diverged.

The honest picture: what cath lab nurse pay does and does not do

Cath lab nurse pay is solid, transparent and nationally set, which is its strength. A nurse can look up the band scale, add the unsocial-hours percentage for the rota, add HCAS for London, and know the gross figure within a few pounds. There are no hidden bonuses and no negotiation over the basic: the scale is the scale. The ceiling is the weakness. Band 6 tops out at £48,117, and a nurse who wants more must move to a lead post, which means owning lists and rotas, not simply more years in the same lab. The on-call rota is the variable that makes two cath lab posts at the same band pay very differently, and it is also the variable that no national table can price, because it is set locally. The job itself is the reason to take it: the chance to watch a blocked artery open, to give a patient having a heart attack a normal life back, and to work in a small team where every member matters. The pay is fair for the band. The rota, the on-call terms, and the split between planned lists and emergency work are what should decide the choice between two cath lab posts at the same band.

Frequently asked questions

What band is a cath lab nurse?

A cath lab nurse in England in 2026/27 sits at Band 5 or Band 6. Band 5 pays £32,073 at entry, £34,592 at the intermediate step and £39,043 at the top, and Band 6 pays £39,959 at entry, £42,170 at the intermediate step and £48,117 at the top. Band 5 is the staff nurse grade in the catheter laboratory, working as part of the team for diagnostic angiograms and interventions, while Band 6 is the senior grade, running lists, scrubbing and circulating for complex cases, and taking charge of the lab on a shift. A newly qualified nurse starts at the bottom of Band 5 and moves through the steps on annual progression, subject to the usual appraisal and performance requirements.

How much does a cath lab nurse earn a month?

In England in 2026/27, a Band 5 cath lab nurse earns £2,672.75 a month at entry, £2,882.67 at the intermediate step and £3,253.58 at the top, before tax, National Insurance and pension deductions. A Band 6 cath lab nurse earns £3,329.92 a month at entry, £3,514.17 at the intermediate step and £4,009.75 at the top. Those are gross figures for a full-time 37.5-hour week, before any unsocial-hours enhancement, on-call payment or London weighting. On-call money, where a primary PCI rota applies, is paid on top of these figures and is set locally, so it is not included in the monthly amounts above.

Do cath lab nurses get unsocial-hours pay?

Yes, when the hours are worked. Agenda for Change Section 2 pays Bands 4 to 9 time plus 30% for Saturday and weekday night hours (8pm to 6am) and time plus 60% for Sunday and public-holiday hours. A Band 5 cath lab nurse at entry earns £21.29 an hour on a Saturday or at night and £26.21 on a Sunday or bank holiday, against £16.38 plain time. At the top of Band 6, £24.58 an hour becomes £31.95 and £39.33. Cath labs run planned lists in the day and an emergency primary PCI service out of hours in heart attack centres, so the enhancement share depends on the rota: a nurse on a regular weekend and night on-call rota earns far more enhancement than a nurse on a day-only diagnostic lab.

What is primary PCI on-call and how does it affect pay?

Primary PCI is the emergency treatment for a heart attack caused by a blocked coronary artery, where a stent is fitted in the cath lab as soon as possible after the patient arrives. Heart attack centres run a 24-hour primary PCI rota, so cath lab nurses take turns being on call overnight and at weekends, ready to come in and open a lab at short notice. On-call pay itself has no national cath lab rate to quote, and this page does not invent one: trusts set availability payments and call-out payments locally, and the frequency of call-outs matters as much as the rate. A rota that calls a nurse in twice a week pays very differently from one that calls twice a month, even on the same availability payment. Hours actually worked on a call-out attract unsocial-hours enhancement where the hours qualify, and overtime rules apply above 37.5 hours in the week.

Do cath lab nurses get London weighting?

Yes, in London. High Cost Area Supplement in 2026/27 is 20% of basic pay in inner London (minimum £5,794, maximum £8,746), 15% in outer London (minimum £4,870, maximum £6,137) and 5% in the fringe zone (minimum £1,346, maximum £2,270). A Band 5 cath lab nurse at entry in inner London earns £38,487.60 in total, and a Band 5 nurse at the top in inner London earns £46,851.60. A Band 6 cath lab nurse at entry in inner London earns £47,950.80, and a Band 6 nurse at the top in inner London earns £56,863, because the 20% supplement is capped at £8,746. A Band 6 nurse at the top in outer London earns £54,254, because the outer supplement is capped at £6,137.

What pension contribution does a cath lab nurse pay?

Under the provisional 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, Band 5 cath lab nurses pay 8.3% of pensionable pay at entry and the intermediate step, £221.84 and £239.26 a month, and 9.8% at the top, £318.85 a month. Band 6 cath lab nurses pay 9.8% at every step, from £326.33 a month at entry to £392.96 a month at the top. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £11,403.73 a year at the top of Band 6. The 2026/27 member tiers are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, and have not yet been formally published.

Can a cath lab nurse work part-time?

Yes. Part-time pay in Agenda for Change is pro rata to the whole-time equivalent fraction. A Band 5 cath lab nurse at entry on a 0.8 whole-time equivalent contract earns £25,658.40 a year, and a Band 6 cath lab nurse at the top on a 0.6 contract earns £28,870.20 a year. Unsocial-hours percentages and High Cost Area Supplement apply to the pro rata basic in the same way as to a full-time basic, and pension contributions are calculated on the actual pensionable pay, not the whole-time equivalent figure. Part-time cath lab work needs the on-call rota agreed in advance, because a primary PCI rota cannot run on a nurse who is never available out of hours, so a part-time nurse should ask how on-call is shared before accepting a post.

How does cath lab nurse pay differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

Scotland has a 3.75% award from 1 April 2026 and a 36-hour week, which changes the hourly maths and the overtime threshold, since overtime in Scotland starts above 36 hours rather than 37.5. Scotland Band 5 pays £34,494 to £42,977, which is £18.36 to £22.87 an hour on the 36-hour week. Wales has a 3.3% award implemented 1 April 2026, and Wales Band 5 pays £32,557 at entry, £35,114 at the intermediate step and £39,631 at the top, which is £16.63, £17.94 and £20.25 an hour. Northern Ireland has a 3.3% recommendation for 2026/27 that has not been implemented, so no 2026/27 Northern Ireland figure is quoted here. Scotland and Wales Band 6 step figures are not in the verified data file used for this page, so they are not quoted.