A MONTH-LONG consultation on the government’s 3 per cent pay offer to NHS staff could be the first step towards industrial action, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) warned today.

Nurses nationwide are taking part in a “summer of action” to campaign for a fully funded 12.5 per cent rise.

Earlier this year, the union declared that it had a £35 million industrial action fund. It is is already in dispute with NHS Scotland, having rejected a 4 per cent offer.