CLINICIAN leaders in Wales demanded urgent action from the Welsh government on pay today following awards to NHS staff in England.
Under the Barnett formula, extra spending on the health service in England should trigger additional money for the devolved nations.
But the last Conservative government claimed that some NHS awards in England were funded by efficiency savings which denied additional funding to Wales.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Wales responded to news of the recent announcement from the Chancellor of a 5.5 per cent pay award for nursing staff in England.
RCN Wales’s Nicky Hughes said: “Nursing staff in Wales deserve the same prompt action and recognition on pay as their colleagues in England.
“They should not have to wait any longer for the pay award that they should have received in April of this year.”
BMA Cymru Wales also called on the Welsh government to respond to the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration Body (DDRB) recommendations and the announcement of a pay award for NHS staff in England.
Dr Phil White of the BMA’s Welsh Council said: “Yesterday’s announcement of an above-inflation pay uplift for doctors in England is a step in the right direction.
“Doctors in Wales keenly await the response of the Welsh government and rightly anticipate that the recommendations of the DDRB will also be honoured in Wales.”
Doctors in England will now receive pay rises above 20 per cent and BMA Wales has written to First Minister Eluned Morgan about pay for general practitioners.
The Welsh government’s Cabinet Secretary for Finance Rebecca Evans said: “The Chancellor has given a commitment to the public sector of a much-needed above-inflation pay rise.
“We will now carefully work through all the details which lie behind the statement and the implications for our budget.
“We know hard-working public-sector workers are keen to find out how much they will be paid in 2024-25, but we need to understand the detail behind this announcement,” Ms Evans said.
RCN Wales also called on the Welsh government “to go above the recommendations of the independent pay review body (PRB) for nursing staff in Wales which would go some way towards the pay restoration they committed to in last year’s pay award,” Ms Hughes said.
