NHS pay dispute: Health secretary hints at pay boost offer to unions - BBC

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has suggested wellness workers could get a bigger wage emergence successful April - if they hold to "efficiencies" successful the NHS.

Writing successful the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Barclay said helium remains "ready to engage" with striking unions connected however the authorities tin "support the workforce".

The NHS has seen wide strikes successful a quality implicit this year's wage offer.

Union leaders accidental ministers indispensable enactment connected the existent dispute, and this month's walkouts volition spell ahead.

Meanwhile, shadiness wellness curate Andrew Gwynne said a decennary of underfunding by Tory governments had stretched the NHS.

It comes a time aft wellness leaders held talks with the authorities astir tackling the challenges faced by the NHS - which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described arsenic "highly valuable".

On Monday, wellness unions person been invited to conscionable Mr Barclay to sermon wage for 2023-24 from April - and successful his Telegraph sentiment portion helium argued "we should beryllium moving guardant and having constructive conversations astir what is affordable this coming year, alternatively than going backmost retrospectively".

But speaking to the BBC's Today programme connected Saturday, Royal College of Nursing General Secretary Pat Cullen said the wage summation nurses would person successful 2022-23 was "fundamental" to the ongoing dispute.

NHS unit successful England and Wales - including nurses - person been fixed an mean wage emergence of 4.75% this twelvemonth but are calling for an summation to support up with inflation, which is presently moving astatine much than 10%.

Ambulance workers are acceptable to locomotion retired again this week, and nurses aboriginal successful the month. And from Monday, inferior doctors successful England volition beryllium balloted connected onslaught action.

Mr Barclay - who was reappointed arsenic wellness caput by Mr Sunak successful October aft a abbreviated spell earlier successful the twelvemonth - admitted the caller strikes had disrupted the wellness service, causing much than 30,000 appointments to beryllium rescheduled.

"While those who kept moving did a formidable occupation - supported brilliantly by our equipped forces - we cognize the prime of attraction patients received suffered arsenic a result," helium said.

However, helium besides hinted astatine abstraction for dialog with the unions, saying helium was keen to clasp talks to spot if a colony could beryllium agreed connected immoderate revised wage offer.

He described a caller sojourn to 1 of the 42 caller NHS strategy power centres that usage unrecorded infirmary information and integer notifications to guarantee the emblematic clip a furniture remains bare is being chopped from 3 hours to 1 hour.

He said that erstwhile the NHS trusts tin find and wide present "productivity and ratio opportunities" that would marque it "affordable" for the authorities to money revised wage offers for staff.

Acknowledging challenges wrong the wellness service, Mr Barclay besides said helium would marque an announcement connected Monday to "improve the travel done our hospitals".

"This is the benignant of enactment we're determined to support doing, fixing people's problems and taking the state forward, alternatively than being stuck connected repetition with the unions," helium said.