The Health Secretary has not ruled out backdating next year’s NHS staff pay settlement, as the Government grapples with a way to end the dispute with healthcare workers over pay.
Steve Barclay, who spent part of Monday meeting trade union officials in a bid to broker a solution, described the discussions as “productive” during a visit to St Charles Hospital in west London, even as he hit out at the accusation that the Government had demanded staff “justify” a payment through productivity improvements.
