A more generous pay offer for NHS staff is required if plans to tackle long waiting lists are to be successful, ministers have been warned.
Unions representing healthcare staff argued a more generous pay deal for 2025 is crucial to shore up the workforce and deliver planned changes.
The Government has recommended a 2.8 per cent pay rise for public sector workers this year – a figure deemed too low by unions.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Monday set out new plans to tackle NHS waiting lists including extending opening hours in community diagnostic centres and expanding the use of private healthcare.
Union Unison, which represents NHS staff from nurses and midwives to pharmacists, porters and admin staff, warned that the plans will not work without “sufficient” staff.
Unison’s head of health Helga Pile told The i Paper: “Healthcare workers want to see an effective NHS delivering the best care possible, but none of these plans will work without sufficient skilled staff.
“Unless there’s a better pay offer, there’s a danger the workforce crisis will simply worsen.
“Ministers have to recognise that piling on extra pressure with longer hours must be matched with decent wages, and a sustainable plan for recruiting and training the additional staff needed.”
Dean Rogers, executive director of industrial strategy for the Society of Radiographers, welcomed the Government’s plans to increase capacity at community diagnostic centres, but called for “clear detail about how these centres are going to be staffed”.
The British Medical Association, representing doctors, welcomed the plan to create more community services but said “the reality is that without the workforce to meet constantly rising demand, we will not see the progress we all hope for”.
A BMA spokesperson said: “Doctors are demoralised and stretched to capacity – something the Prime Minister has acknowledged but the reforms unveiled [on Monday] seem to indicate healthcare workers are going to be expected to do even more.
“Doctors do want to see the waiting lists cleared and we welcome the ambition of the plan, but what is missing is anything about increasing recruitment to ease pressures or to enhance pay.
“Last month the Government to give evidence to the doctors’ and dentists’ pay review body (DDRB) believing a 2.8% pay rise for doctors for this year was enough.
“It showed a poor grasp of the unresolved issues from two years of industrial action and does not move significantly closer to restoring the relative value of doctors’ pay lost over the past 15 years, never mind acknowledging the extra effort doctors will be expected to put in to make the recovery plan work.
“We hope that the doctors pay review body thinks long and hard about its recommendations for this year’s pay uplift and takes into account the impact of these reforms on doctors and their workloads.”
In last year’s Budget, the Government made nearly £26billion available to the health and care system over two years.
Ministers are due to unveil the latest iteration of an NHS workforce plan in the summer with a focus on shifting care from hospitals into the community.
The Government has promised to ramp up capacity in community diagnostic centres, which will be opened seven days a week, and open new or revamped surgical hubs.
The community hubs will be required to set out their workforce plans to NHS England with details as to how they will fund and support opening for 12 hours, seven days a week, the Government said.
NHS trusts will also boost efforts to allow patients appointment information via the NHS App which will be expanded.
