Ambulance strikes have been suspended after the Government finally agreed to discuss pay with GMB and Unison.
After months of waiting, the Health Secretary wrote to unions within hours of GMB ambulance workers announcing they would reduce emergency cover on strike days.
The Department of Health and Social Care has now agreed to discuss pay for both this year and next year - as well improvements to other terms and conditions.
Unions have also received assurances there is additional cash for both years above existing budgets and that any deal would respect the existing Agenda for Change structure.
More than 13,000 ambulance workers were due to go on strike on March 6 and 8.
Other planned NHS strikes at Mersey Care and Barnsley Hospital have also been paused.
GMB members striking in the Welsh Ambulance service have also agreed to suspend action on Monday for further talks with the trust and the Welsh Government.
Talks are expected to commence early next week.
Until now the Tories had refused to countenance an improved pay deal for 2022/23 despite a growing staff crisis in the health service and record waits for care.
The invite for talks could be a first step to ending an unprecedented NHS industrial dispute that has seen thousands of operations cancelled during strikes.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: “GMB ambulance workers announced a tightening of the derogations for cover on strike days.
“Less than 24 hours later we received a letter from the Secretary of State for Health, Steve Barclay, inviting us and other unions to pay talks.
“This is a huge shift from the Government, who for months have refused to consider negotiations on pay.
“Now, they are saying they are willing to sit down and talk.
“The Government has given assurances of additional cash for both years above existing budgets and that any deal will respect the existing Agenda for Change structure.
“GMB’s ambulance workers have agreed to suspend industrial action so talks can begin – however the strike will return with a vengeance should talks break down.”
Unison's head of health Sara Gorton said: “Unions said all along they could pause strikes if ministers would only commit to formal talks to boost pay for this year.
“The government has finally promised extra investment in pay for both this and next year.
“The sad thing is this could all have been handled so differently. Proper pay talks should have started months ago, long before the first strike was called. That would have avoided days of disruption for the NHS and its patients.
“Whether the talks signal the beginning of the end of the current dispute will emerge in the coming days. If a deal can be reached, strikes can end and everyone can work together again to ensure the NHS gets back on track.
“However, when we get in the room, we’ll quickly learn whether the talks can be meaningful. If not, UNISON will be forced to resume strike action. Nobody wants that.”
