Nursing strikes: Union boss says government open to discuss 'anything but pay'

Pat Cullen told ITV News the government will speak with the Royal College of Nursing about 'anything but pay and the areas of our dispute'

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary has hit out at the government's reluctance to negotiate better pay conditions for nurses, following the first of two planned 24-hour walkouts.

Pat Cullen told ITV News the government was willing to discuss "anything but pay" and criticised the offer made by ministers as "really short of what our nurses require and deserve".

On Thursday, around 100,000 nurses took to picket lines around the UK in what has become the biggest ever strike in the history of the NHS.

According to health minister Maria Caulfield, nearly 16,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries were rescheduled in England - 54,000 less than the government suggested - due to the walkout.

A further strike by RCN members is planned to take place next Tuesday, unless a breakthrough can be made in negotiations.

The government has insisted it remains open to finding a mutual settlement, but Ms Cullen explained there is still a "significant gap" to be bridged between both parties.

On Friday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the offer given to nurses is "appropriate and fair" and that he would not backdown from the recommendation made by the NHS independent pay review body.

Mr Sunak told ITV News: "The government has accepted in full the recommendations of an independent pay review body which sets pay or makes recommendations to the government.

"And even when those recommendations were higher than what the government had initially suggested and indeed higher than what many people in the private sector were receiving, the government in the interests of being constructive, of being reasonable and being fair accepted them in full."

"But our door is always open. The health secretary has been consistently clear about that and I hope we can find a way through."

'Well you see that's why I keep saying the process is fundamentally flawed'

However, Ms Cullen said the pay review body was "fundamentally flawed" and could not be classed as independent.

She said: "The independent pay review body is established by government, the people that sit on the body are appointed by government, they're paid by government and the parameters for which they must report is also set by government.

"In other words government tells them 'you can recommend anything as long as it's 3%'."

Mr Sunak's reluctance to negotiate with unions has been challenged by health leaders and some senior Conservative MPs.

Former Conservative Party chair Sir Jake Berry called for the government to negotiate on pay, telling Times Radio: "Machismo and sort of chest beating and 'we’ll take the unions on' doesn’t work. You only get these things sorted out by talking."

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Nurses were recommended a £1,400 raise, which is estimated to be an average of a 4.3% raise for qualified staff.

The RCN has been demanding a pay rise of around 19% but has indicated it is willing to accept a lower offer if ministers agree to negotiate.

It requested a rise at 5% above the RPI measure of inflation, which was running at 7.5% when they submitted their request to the pay review board in March.

But inflation has since soared, with RPI standing at 14.2% in September amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.