When the mighty Royal College of Nursing walked out on its first ever national strike, there was never a doubt that the government would fold and offer a pay increase to NHS staff. Nurses could never be conveniently branded as “militants”, though at first, pathetically, the Tories tried it; nor did that epithet stick to the ambulance staff, physiotherapists and the rest who went on strike. Why did ministers waste all this time, with all those lost appointments and operations, inflicting extra suffering on patients while lengthening the politically damaging waiting lists?
It was blindingly obvious that NHS staff would require a better offer for this year when inflation topped 11%, as well as for next year. After the Covid clapping, after the nightly scenes on television news of staff struggling heroically in dangerously hard-pressed A&E corridors and understaffed wards, their case was undeniable.
