NHS staff strike on pay as A&E faces winter crisis

NHS staff are today staging a four hour walk out in protest at a government decision not to award health service workers a recommended one per cent pay rise.

More than 400,000 members of staff from 11 trade unions will participate in the industrial action, which is expected to add to waiting lists of patients waiting for operations. The TUC has warned that, by the end of 2014, NHS staff will have had their pay capped for six years.

Analysis of figures published by NHS England have suggested the health service faces extreme demands on its resources over the winter, with the number of patients experiencing delays to treatment in casualty units increasing by almost 70 per cent compared to 12 months ago, despite only small increases in the number of patients presenting at hospital.