That's what the country can afford

According to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, the 1% pay rise paid to some but not all NHS workers is all that the country can afford. The Scottish government will also be adopting the NHS Pay Review Body's recommendations in full; so all NHS staff in Scotland will receive the 1% pay rise. The government is likely to reap what it is they have sown as trade unions are about to ballot members on taking industrial action. This may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said that implementing the pay body's recommendations in England would be unaffordable and that it would risk the quality of patient care. He added that if everyone in the NHS were to receive the 1% rise then approximately 6 000 nursing jobs would have to be cut. It was, however, only recently that the government was openly boasting about the economic recovery claiming that the nation was feeling the benefits of this economic upturn and then in the same breath had the audacity to treat health workers in such a disgraceful way.