TORY Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “needs to stop hiding and step in” to resolve NHS strikes, Unite demanded today as the union pledged to escalate its walkouts across England and save the austerity-hit health service from destruction.

A majority of unions representing more than one million staff on NHS “agenda for change” contracts, which cover all health service workers apart from doctors, dentists and senior managers, officially endorsed the government’s latest pay offer.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay promised to implement the below-inflation deal — a one-off payment for 2022-23 and 5 per cent this year — after Unison, GMB, the British Dietetic Association and unions representing midwives and physiotherapists voted for it a meeting of the NHS Staff Council today.