Readers panel: Should nurses ditch the Pay Review Body and negotiate directly with the government?

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has instructed the NHS Pay Review Body (RB) to recommend a rise of 1% to take effect on 1 April 2017. He made it clear that similar edicts will be issued every year until 2020. In a recent editorial, Nursing Standard editor Graham Scott said that if things go on as they are ‘it is hard to believe nurses would not be able to drive a harder bargain by ditching the RB and negotiating directly with the government’.