NURSES and ambulance staff today began the biggest round of strikes in NHS history as a war of words erupted between ministers and unions.
Mental health minister Maria Caulfield claimed that patients would be put at risk "the longer that strikes go on" as tens of thousands of staff in about a third of NHS trusts walked out across England in the bitter pay dispute. But Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, accused the Government of playing a "political football game" with the NHS and urged Health Secretary Steve Barclay to "get in a room and get a deal on the table".
Speaking from a picket line in Cardiff, she said: "I can't put 'constructive talks' on the ballot paper. They just need to come to the table. They should have done it months and months and months ago, and if they had done that we would not be in this position."
Royal College of Nursing members walked out from 7.30am in seven London NHS trusts, including Guy's and St Thomas' and Great Ormond Street.
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