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The Guardian - UK

National

Toby Helm and Denis Campbell

Exclusive: health unions offer to pause NHS strikes if government join pay talks

NHS Steve Barclay Unison Pat Cullen RCN Christmas Royal College of Nursing GMB Observer Scotland

Health secretary Steve Barclay leaves Millbank media studios in London on 7 December. — Health secretary Steve Barclay leaves Millbank media studios in London on 7 December. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Health unions made a dramatic offer on Saturday night to suspend a wave of planned strikes that threatens to cripple the NHS over Christmas and the new year if ministers agree to open serious discussions over pay.

The moves by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the country’s biggest union, Unison, are the first signs of flexibility by either side in a dispute that has been deadlocked for weeks.

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