PM claims he'd 'love' to 'wave magic wand' and give nurses pay rises

Rishi Sunak reveals he’d ‘love’ to ‘wave magic wand’ and give nurses inflation-busting pay rises but insists it’s ‘wrong thing to do’ – as hospitals start giving NHS medics free ‘breakfast packs’

• Rishi Sunak claimed giving nurses pay rises in line with inflation would be wrong
• The Prime Minister said he would ‘love’ to but that doing so would stoke inflation
• It comes as Royal Bolton Hospital is giving struggling nurses breakfast packs 

Rishi Sunak today claimed he would ‘love’ to ‘wave a magic wand’ and give nurses inflation-matching pay rises.

The Prime Minister, however, claimed it would be ‘the wrong thing to do’ amid the cost-of-living crisis.

No10 is under pressure to end the never-ending wave of public sector strikes — with millions of teachers set to cause chaos this week, while the NHS gears up for its biggest ever walk-out on Monday.

But Mr Sunak claimed that while it would ‘make my life easier’ to pay NHS staff more, further stoking inflation would be a ‘vicious cycle’. 

Rishi Sunak, pictured at Teeside University in Darlington, claimed he would ‘love’ to ‘wave a magic wand’ and give nurses inflation-matching pay rises but that it would be ‘the wrong thing to do’

The Prime Minister, pictured at the University Hospital of North Tees, is under growing pressure to end the wave of public sector strikes, with a fresh round of NHS walk-outs set for next week

The calendar shows planned strike dates among NHS staff in the coming months

While addressing an audience of health workers today in Darlington, Mr Sunak was asked: ‘When are you actually going to pay nurses properly?’

He said: ‘I would love – nothing would give me more pleasure – than to wave a magic wand and have all of you paid lots more.’

But he argued it is ‘not an easy job’ to balance many competing interests for Government funding.

Officials have previously claimed that every 1 per cent pay rise for NHS staff would amount to £700million.

READ MORE: Physiotherapists strike for first time EVER as up to 4,000 medics walk-out in dispute over pay 

The RCN is calling for an 18.4 per cent pay rise — based on the current rate of inflation. It would see the average nurses’ salary go from £37,000 to £43,800.

But the union has repeatedly said it would meet ministers in the middle, which would see the average salary increase to £40,400.

Mr Sunak added: ‘When we’ve had periods of high inflation, what happened in the past is everyone said: “OK, inflation was at 15 per cent, we should all get paid 15 per cent,” and then you have a kind of vicious cycle which you never recover from.

‘It would be the wrong thing to do.’

He also argued tax hikes would make health workers’ lives more challenging.

For the first time in history, tens of thousands of Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members started strikes last month amid the energy and cost of living crisis – while also demanding improved patient safety. 

Similar calls have been made by ambulance workers and physiotherapists. 

Tens of thousands of nurses and paramedics will both walk out on February 6, triggering huge disruption across the ailing health service.

It means hospitals will be forced into cancelling routine appointments and operations.

But some nurses are struggling to feed themselves and their families as a result of the crisis, unions claim.

Royal Bolton Hospital staff are being given special breakfast packs as part of a scheme which has ‘a cost-of-living focus on a bespoke basis’.

Hospital workforce director James Mawrey said the food packs have been ‘extremely well received’ but only by a small number of people, and that he hopes more who need help will come forward to take advantage of the scheme.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing on the picket line earlier this month outside the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich

Mr Sunak claimed that while it would ‘make my life easier’ to pay NHS staff more, further stoking inflation would be a ‘vicious cycle’

Royal Bolton Hospital – where staff facing financial hardship are being given breakfast packs as part of a ‘cost-of-living’ focused scheme

Mr Mawrey added: ‘There’s a bit more work to do there in terms of the footfall but that’s okay actually because it’s there to really help with those individuals who need that help.

‘And we’ve been really keen to do it in a very discreet way.’

The hospital is also handing out vouchers, offering financial wellbeing advice and counselling and extra occupational health support.

The next set of nursing walk-outs are set for next Monday and Tuesday. 

Unions representing ambulance workers and physiotherapists also want above-inflation pay rises, but have not specified a figure.

The government says the demands are unaffordable, and that pay rises are decided by independent pay review bodies.

Source: Read Full Article