Health secretary ‘cautiously optimistic’ NHS union will accept pay offer

Minister of Health Steve Barclay said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the unions would accept the current nurses’ pay offer, despite the increased heated rhetoric between the negotiators.

On Tuesday, trade unions in NHS The Staff Council will consider a proposal for a 5% pay rise in 2023/24, along with a one-off payment of between £1,655 and £3,789 for the current financial year for nurses in England.

It happens like Royal College of Nursing (RCN) launched its “biggest ever strike” at 8pm on Sunday, involving thousands of nurses, including intensive care and cancer specialists.

Mr Barclay criticized the action as “disrespectful” to a union meeting on Tuesday, which he believed could have passed a pay deal, while RCN general secretary Pat Cullen urged him to “show no disrespect” to nurses.

The health minister told reporters: “I am cautiously optimistic that the Staff Council will agree to vote in favor of the deal.

“But I think it is right to wait for the Staff Council meeting until Tuesday and this strike is premature.

“I believe that this is disrespectful to other unions. I think the RCN should have waited. They are members of the Staff Council. They were part of the negotiations.”

Meanwhile, Ms Cullen told the PA news agency that more strikes could be on the horizon as RCN members vote on further action later this month.

Picketing outside University College Hospital in central London, she said Mr Barclay had “lost the public and certainly lost any respect that our medical staff had for him and this government”.

“What our members are saying secretary of state of this government – we are not going to leave,” she said.

“We will remain on the pickets to hear the voice of our patients.

“We will continue to lose a day’s picketing pay for our patients, so this is important to them and they want their voice to be heard.”

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer also called on the government to “take responsibility” for the strikes.

Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to Blackpool, Lancashire, he said: “The government has sat on its hands for weeks and weeks and weeks, making a bad situation worse. So everyone wants it resolved.

“I think it’s important to recognize the root causes of this because nurses and many others have experienced a real drop in wages and living standards due to the cost of living crisis and the government has nothing to say to them. about it.

“The responsibility here lies at No. 10’s door and they need to accept that responsibility and do something about it.”

The RCN strike, which ends shortly before midnight, includes emergency, intensive care and cancer care staff for the first time.

However, exemptions have been granted for nurses in the emergency departments of some hospitals, including Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Nurses make up a quarter of NHS staff and the largest proportion of the healthcare workforce.

Health workers are also staging a protest in central London on Monday under Unite.

The union said the demonstration would coincide with a strike by its members from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Yorkshire Ambulance Service.