Posted 09 January 2023 - 14:48
Posted 09 January 2023 - 14:48
News
Crunch talks on NHS disputes called ‘bitterly disappointing’
Downing St meeting prompts anger over claim that NHS staff need to be more productive to earn a pay rise
Downing St meeting prompts anger over claim that NHS staff need to be more productive to earn a pay rise
Talks between the government and health unions today were ‘bitterly disappointing’ and sparked anger at claims NHS staff needed to be more productive to earn a pay rise.
Leaders from the RCN and Unite said that health and social care secretary Steve Barclay again refused to talk about this year’s pay dispute. It means planned nurses’ strikes will go ahead on 18 and 19 January, along with ambulance strikes on 11 and 23 January.
RCN director of employment relations and legal services Joanne Galbraith-Marten said: ‘There is no resolution to our dispute yet in sight. Today’s meeting was bitterly disappointing – nothing for the current year and repeating that the budget is already set for next year.
‘This intransigence is letting patients down. Ministers have a distance to travel to avert next week’s nurse strike.’
Union leaders went into the meetings hopeful for progress after prime minister Rishi Sunak indicated nurses could be offered a one-off payment to combat the spiralling cost of living. Mr Barclay had also indicated a willingness to discuss the 2023-24 pay award.
Unite says unions feel insulted by government call for productivity savings
But following the meeting Unite’s lead officer Onay Kasab said ‘every single member’ had been insulted by the government’s calls for productivity savings, despite the immense pressures they currently face daily at work.
Mr Kasab said the government had suggested that any one-off payments would have to be based on ‘productivity savings’, according to reports by the BBC.
He said many health and care staff were working 18-hour shifts and it was ‘an insult to every single one of our members’ to discuss productivity. ‘We are extremely angry,’ he added.
It comes as emergency departments across the UK are at crisis point, with patients often waiting more than 24 hours to be seen and routinely treated in corridors on plastic chairs.
Unison’s Sara Gorton says health secretary’s tone has changed
However, Unison’s head of health Sara Gorton came away from the meeting far more encouraged than others, saying that the ‘health secretary’s tone had changed.’
She added: ‘That shift needs to be matched with a firm commitment from the Treasury to fund a wage boost now. Ministers know unless they come up with some hard cash for a pay boost for what’s left of the current financial year, there can be no resolution to the dispute. And there must be talks soon to agree the increase health workers are due from April.’
Earlier today RCN director for England Patricia Marquis told Sky News the nursing union was willing to compromise on its pay demands, but suggestions of efficiencies made her very worried. She said: ‘There aren’t enough staff to deliver the care that needs to be delivered and there isn’t enough funding in the NHS.’
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has been contacted for comment.
In other news