Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to a pay protest by NHS staff at Parliament today (Wednesday 6 September 2017), said:

“NHS staff are long overdue a pay rise which matches the compassion and dedication which they bring to their working lives. The Tory Government has taken NHS staff for granted for years and the result is staffing shortages across the health service and ever longer waits for patients.

“72 per cent of the public now think that there are too few nurses to provide safe care to patients. This is totally unsustainable. The Government’s public sector pay cap has created a workforce crisis in the NHS which is driving trust deficits and causing misery for patients.

“Some Tories are hinting the cap will eventually be lifted but they voted against Labour’s amendment to lift the pay cap earlier in the summer. It’s simply not good enough. Nurses, midwives and paramedics should be valued and rewarded for the brilliant work that they do and the Government must make their plans on NHS pay clear now, before it is too late.”