Dr Amir Khan angry over one per cent pay rise for NHS staff

Dr Amir Khan has called on the government to review this decision and 'recognise that the NHS particularly has worked hard during the pandemic.'

He says he feels for the exhausted NHS workforce who will face a backlog of medical appointments to deal with post-pandemic.

Speaking on today’s Good Morning Britain, Dr Amir said: “The feeling within the NHS largely is bitter disappointment. I’m angry with it. I’m angry on behalf of nurses, porters, cleaners, healthcare assistants. The people we have been applauding for, people putting their lives on the line.

“All these people working tirelessly throughout the pandemic. This is a kick in the teeth for them.

'This is a kick in the teeth for them.'@drAmirKhanGP reacts to the news of the government's recommended 1% pay rise for NHS staff.

He says the government should reassess it and 'recognise that the NHS particularly has worked hard during the pandemic.' pic.twitter.com/J9FScjdjaw

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) March 5, 2021

“Once we come out of the pandemic we will face a huge backlog of treatment, surgeries, have massive burden of mental health that needs sorting out as well.

“For an exhausted workforce, this only disenfranchises them more.

“It’s not a done deal yet. The Government should look at it again. The NHS particularly has worked incredibly hard throughout this pandemic.

“It just isn’t right.”

In its submission, the pay review bodies for NHS staff and for doctors and dentists, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the NHS budget was based on a headline pay rise of 1%.

It suggested any award above that would require cuts to services with a “re-prioritisation” of funding within the service.

It said they needed to strike “the right balance between pay and staff numbers through systems of reward that are affordable and fit for purpose”.

The proposal was angrily condemned by Royal College of Nursing general secretary, Dame Donna Kinnair who said it would amount to an increase of just £3.50 a week in take home pay for an experienced nurse.

But Health Minister Nadine Dorries said the Government could not afford to give NHS staff in England a pay rise of more than one per cent.

She told Sky News: "Of course, we recognise the sacrifice and the commitment and the vocation of nurses and all health workers over the past year.

"We've all been touched by, or personally experienced, help by NHS workers.

"But I think it is important to note that the priority of the Government has been about protecting people's livelihoods, about continuing the furlough scheme, about fighting the pandemic, and we've put huge effort into that.

"We do not want nurses to go unrecognised - or doctors - and no other public-sector employee is receiving a pay rise, there has been a pay freeze.

"But the one per cent offer is the most we think we can afford which we have put forward to the pay review body."

Ms Dorries said the Government "would love to do more" than a proposed one per cent pay rise for NHS staff in England "but at this present point in time it's been fighting the pandemic for the past year which has been a priority".

She added nurses have received a 12 per cent increase in pay over the last three years and the average nurse's salary is around £34,000.

"Everybody in an ideal world would love to see nurses paid far more, in an ideal world, but we are coming out of a pandemic where we have seen huge borrowing and costs to the Government," she told Sky.

The Health Minister also insisted there would be "no cuts" to NHS budgets going forward.

Budget documents revealed there is a planned cut of £30 billion in day-to-day spending at the Department for Health and Social Care from April of this year, falling from £199.2 billion to £169.1 billion.

Ms Dorries said: "That £30 billion, I believe, was a reduction on the pandemic spending - there are actually real-time increases going into the NHS budget year on year.

"That figure, I'm afraid, is completely wrong - that's not on our annual funding of the NHS, that was on our pandemic budget, which is completely separate.

"There are absolutely no cuts moving forward to frontline NHS services either in waiting lists, accident and emergency. There are just no cuts moving forward - there are real-time increases going into the NHS budget."