Steve Barclay asks, “should nurses use food banks?”

• Health Secretary says he’ll talk to nursing union leaders before strikes.
• In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, 100,000 nurses plan to strike this month.
• Barclay was questioned about nurses using UC at food banks.

Steve Barclay, the health secretary, has been speaking to media outside a London hospital. He has more to say now.

He is questioned over the morality of nurses using Universal Credit while visiting food banks.

He doesn’t answer the question directly, stating that the government has “an independent process” that looks at high taxes, cost-of-living pressures “and balances those with the needs of our NHS as well”.

He claims that the administration followed the suggestions made by an impartial salary review.

An earlier statement made by Jerry Cope, who served as a past head of the NHS Pay Review Body, suggested that the current chair of the body be asked to reconsider their recommendations because of the significant increase in inflation.

Ahead of the strikes that are scheduled to take place later this month, the Secretary of Health has stated that his “door is open” to meet with nursing union officials.

This claim was made by Steve Barclay at a time when he was facing accusations from Labor that he was “using nurses as a scapegoat to dodge the blame” for the challenging winter that the NHS was experiencing.

After holding a vote, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have decided to go ahead with plans to strike on December 15 and 20, respectively.

A legal mandate has been met for strikes at half of the locations in England, and nurses and other nursing staff will take action in those places. Additionally, nurses and other nursing workers will take action in every NHS workplace in Wales and Northern Ireland but one. Up to one hundred thousand nurses are planning to participate in the strike.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) stated that despite this year’s salary award of 1,400 pounds, experienced nurses are still 20% worse off in real terms as a result of consecutive pay awards that have been below inflation since 2010.

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