Responding to the government's acceptance of the Pay Review Bodies' recommendations of a pay increase for public sector workers, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said:
“The prime minister will have to explain to over a million outraged NHS workers why they are getting the lowest pay rise in the public sector.
“Record numbers of jobs in the NHS are unfilled and the government cannot expect to turn that around when it appears not to value them. Patients are paying the price.
“Inflation is not coming down in the way ministers told NHS staff and others it would. For nursing staff, the pay rise they actually rejected is worth increasingly little and being eclipsed now by announcements for other professions. It is unfair and inadequate.
“This seems a highly cavalier approach by government when it knows over 100,000 nursing staff across the country voted to continue strike action only days ago. Today’s news will only add to that number.”
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