Pay deal could extend waiting list and ‘make day job even harder’, says NHSE

A pay rise of more than the 2.8% budgeted for next year would slow down the NHS’s waiting list recovery, and make ”the day-to-day job of NHS staff even harder”, NHS England has claimed.

The national body said the 2025-26 NHS funding envelope was “extremely tight” and any pay rises above 2.8 per cent would mean “further tough re-prioritisation, significantly impacting patient care and in turn making the day-to-day job of NHS staff even harder”.

In evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body panel published on Monday, NHS England said it would have to meet extra costs from its own budget, and every half percentage point above 2.8 per cent would cost around £700m. This was the equivalent of reducing the elective waiting list by at least 300,000, it said.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 11 December 2024