Hopes soar of an end to nurses' strike with pay deal

Hunt's deal on pay for nurses raises hopes of an end to rail strike chaos

- Daniel Keane, Nicholas Cecil and Ross Lydall

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.”