MINISTERS and health unions were today on the brink of a deal to end the long-running pay dispute as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt indicated that the Treasury could find more money for NHS staff.
Mr Hunt said the Government was "hopeful" that a deal could be struck to end strikes by nurses and ambulance workers following "positive progress" in talks.
Last month, the Royal College of Nursing and several health unions representing paramedics agreed to suspend industrial action while they entered into intensive negotiations with ministers.
Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Hunt suggested that a deal could involve a backdated sum for the 2022-23 financial year. "We will only offer what we can afford to fund. But what we've said is that we are willing to make a more generous offer than was settled by the independent processes last year, providing it's not inflationary," he said.
"Nothing has been announced yet, so we're not in a position to be able to say any quantum of money involved, but are we trying to be as flexible as we can within the bounds of something that doesn’t lead to more inflation in the future.”
Esta historia es de la edición March 16, 2023 de Evening Standard.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición March 16, 2023 de Evening Standard.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Who is to blame for the lack of elite English managers?
Replacing Tuchel with a homegrown candidate will be no easy task
Who your club will sign and sell in the January market
Kolo Muani has more than one interested club in London, while there are big names unsettled and looking to move
The debt disaster threatening to leave Londoners without a drop to drink
Crisis-hit Thames Water could go under in days
Is 2025 the year of the first-time buyer?
This could be your best chance to buy a home in more than a decade here's where to look
Kick back in the Caribbean BodyHoliday, Saint Lucia
Green juices, beach workouts and supercharged facials: more and more of us are swapping piña coladas and indulgent food for a healthier, but no less glamorous, holiday.
Dishoom's Kavi Thakraron why Mumbai is his inspiration
The best street food, fantastic markets and bars where the hours just disappear...the restaurateur shares his guide
On the sauce - Adiamondis forever, after all
Double Diamond was supposedly Prince Philip’s favourite beer. He’s said to have enjoyed a bottle, nightly.
At the table - Queen of W1 expands empire with chic Italian
I understand it's not the done thing to compare restaurateurs to murderous mob bosses, given it's rude and, well, they're notoriously litigious. But when I think of Samyukta Nair, sometimes I hear Jack Nicholson's mutterings in The Departed, Martin Scorsese's Boston gangster flick. \"I don't want to be a product of my environment,\" Nichol- son says. \"I want my environment to be a product of me.\"
The Royal Academy's masterful show and mind-expanding surrealist paintings
Known for his intricate and stunning handmade tapestries, Siributr creates these vast hangings to explore his native Thailand past and present.
Review - Adrien Brody's power and depth shine in this colossal epic
The Brutalist, director Brady Corbet’s third feature, is a movie of such colossal size and scope it may well have been carved from marble; an epic paean to the immigrant experience in America in the wake of the Second World War.
