Health Secretary ‘pleased’ as consultants accept pay offer
Victoria Atkins has said she is “really pleased” that consultants have accepted a pay offer, ending a year-long dispute with the Government. The health secretary said that the deal is “fair and reasonable”. Consultants have taken strike action over the past year, adding to the NHS waiting list which has also been affected by the junior doctors’ dispute, which remains unresolved. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 Well I'm really pleased that following some really intensive negotiations with the unions
00:05 representing consultants, we've been able to find a fair and reasonable settlement for
00:11 consultants but also of course for patients and for the taxpayer. So I think this is really
00:16 good news, this means that consultants will be able to continue their very, very important
00:21 work in hospitals up and down the country looking after patients. The settlement reached
00:26 with consultants is a review and a reform of their contract. These contracts have been
00:31 in place for some 20 years, we wanted to update them. I wanted in particular to tackle the
00:36 gender pay gap that female consultants face and so this is a reform to the contract that
00:42 will enable this to happen. Of course for doctors as well as all healthcare staff including
00:48 nurses we're in the middle at the moment of the pay review process which will set pay
00:53 rises for the coming year. I've said all along that I want to find a fair and reasonable
00:58 settlement with junior doctors as well and I believe we can do that. I particularly want
01:03 to look at their working conditions because I have lots of friends who are doctors but
01:08 also I've listened to junior doctors on my visits around the country to hospitals and
01:13 heard about some of the things that makes life tough enough in what is a very responsible
01:18 job and so I want to look at that. I'm also very keen to understand their concerns and
01:24 so we're very much, the offer is there to continue talking but I'm not going to go into
01:29 details I hope you'll understand at this moment.