Labour will give pay rise to "overworked and underpaid" NHS staff

NHS workers who have been “taken for granted” by the Tories will get a pay rise if Labour wins the election, the shadow health secretary is to announce.

Jonathan Ashworth will say in a speech on Wednesday that NHS staff have been “undervalued, overworked and underpaid”by the Conservative government, with cuts to pay and training forcing workers out of the health service and putting young people off applying.

This has led to short staffing that is a threat to patient safety, Ashworth will say.

In March, the government announced that around 1.3 million NHS staff would receive a 1% pay rise but critics pointed out the rise would see nurses, midwives and radiographers earn barely £5 a week more.

The settlement for 2017-18 is the sixth year in a row in which NHS staff’s annual pay rise has been lower than the cost of living – inflation is running at 3.2%.

Labour plan to lift the 1% cap on pay rises for NHS staff and move towards public sector wages being agreed through collective bargaining and the evidence of independent pay review bodies.

At the Unison Health Conference in Liverpool, Ashworth will say: “Our NHS staff are the very pride of Britain. Yet they are ignored, insulted, undervalued, overworked and underpaid by this Tory government. Not any more. Enough is enough.

“NHS staff have been taken for granted for too long by the Conservatives. Cuts to pay and training mean hard-working staff are being forced from NHS professions and young people are being put off before they have even started. Now Brexit threatens the ability of health employers to recruit from overseas.

Labour also plan to create legislation requiring NHS trusts to have regard for patient safety when setting staffing levels, as “Tory mismanagement” has left the health service “dangerously understaffed”.

It will ask the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to assess whether legally enforced staffing ratios should be introduced in some health settings. The party will also reinstate funding and support for students of health-related degrees and incentivise NHS jobs to boost staffing levels.

Ashworth will say: “What is bad for NHS staff is bad for patients too. Short staffing means reduced services and a threat to patient safety. Labour’s new guarantees for NHS staff will help keep services running at the standard which England’s patients expect.”

The move was welcomed by unions and representative bodies.

Jon Skewes, director for policy, employment relations and communications of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “These are very welcome commitments from the Labour party. They recognise the effort, determination and commitment on the part of our hard-working midwives and other NHS staff to deliver the safest and best possible care for those using the NHS.

He also criticised the government for abolishing NHS bursaries, which has led to a fall by 23% of applications by students in England to nursing and midwifery courses at British universities.

The government’s policy of a 1% pay cap amounts to a drop in real wages, the TUC has calculated. Adjusting for inflation, a nurse, for example, would have earned £30,929 in 2010, but only £28,462 last year.

There are currently 24,000 nursing vacancies, according to the Royal College of Nursing as roles become harder to fill.

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC said: “Under the government’s current plans, NHS workers will lose thousands of pounds from their salaries. This is unfair, it will demoralise staff and it will increase the number who decide to quit.

“We hope all the parties will make an election pledge to scrap the unfair pay restrictions and give our hard-working NHS staff the pay rise they deserve.”

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said NHS staff are “struggling to get by” on below-inflation pay rises and lifting the 1% cap would make them feel valued.

Conservative health minister Philip Dunne said: “We’ve protected and increased the NHS budget and got thousands more staff in hospitals. But all that’s at risk with Jeremy Corbyn’s nonsensical economic policies that would mean less money for the NHS. Just look at Wales where Labour’s economic mismanagement means they had to cut funding.”

Labour will give pay rise to "overworked and underpaid" NHS staff