Calls for extra NHS cash to avoid strikes

Humza Yousaf and his Welsh counterpart have written to the UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay asking for more funding to help avert strike action this winter.

Scotland’s health secretary along with Eluned Morgan wrote to Mr Barclay ahead of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement next week to call for additional funding for hard-working NHS staff.

It comes after ambulance workers in Scotland voted to take industrial action for one day on November 28.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney recently wrote to the Treasury in a call for additional funding for public services.

A UK Government spokesperson said: “We are investing record amounts in health and social care and the chancellor has been clear that protecting public services like the NHS is a priority.

“We are hugely grateful for the hard work of NHS staff, including nurses, and that’s why we accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body in full and have given over one million NHS workers in England a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year.”