Durkan backs calls to end ‘pay freeze’ for NI health workers

SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan has backed calls from the chief executives of the six health trusts in Northern Ireland for urgent intervention to resolve the pay crisis affecting nurses and other clinicians.

Mr Durkan wrote to Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris in March 2023 asking for action not only to implement a pay increase for health staff but to increase the rate mileage allowance rate.

Mr Heaton-Harris refused to intervene on the grounds that ‘a fully functioning devolved government remains the best way to deliver the necessary reforms to transform healthcare in Northern Ireland.

Said the Foyle MLA: “Health staff here continue to be punished by a bad pay deal as the worst paid health workers across these islands.

“NHS staff elsewhere across the UK have benefitted from multiple pay increases in recent years which has undoubtedly compounded existing staff pressures within our health service as workers opt to take more lucrative positions elsewhere. And who would blame them?

“Mr Heaton-Harris is now warning of the dire consequences the inaction on health pay will have on the north’s health service ahead of the busy winter period.

“Yet, he has refused to step in at any point to assist in the continued absence of an executive.

“It’s disgraceful that our health staff have been left behind at every juncture and forced to take to the picket lines to protect patient safety.

“Blame can’t be laid entirely on the DUP’s siege of Stormont but is a direct consequence of the £300 million overspend and years of financial mismanagement by the parties who have held the purse strings, the DUP and Sinn Féin.”

Mr Durkan added: “Health workers deserve real, tangible recognition of the invaluable role they continue to play amid immense pressures.

“The cost of living emergency has heaped pressure on huge swathes of our society and our health staff are not immune from this.

“With prices skyrocketing, more and more people are struggling to pay their bills, heat their homes, put food on the table and keep up with their mortgage payments.

“I sincerely wish we had functioning institutions to address these issues.

“The SDLP has repeated calls for meaningful intervention from the Secretary of State to deliver an acceptable pay rise for our battle worn health workers, something which he should have done long ago.

“Our health staff deserve better.”

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