The 17.6% pay rise understood to be demanded by nurses who have voted to strike has been described as “remarkably high” by a cabinet minister, who said the expected action this winter would “completely disrupt” the NHS.
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, said it was “difficult to judge” whether nurses were currently paid enough and that while it was not his “area of expertise”, he believed their job was “a vocation”. He said that nurses had a starting salary of £27,000 rising to around the mid-£30,000s, and asked: “Is that enough? Who can put a value on care like that?”
