Forcing nurses to accept the latest pay offer isn’t the victory the government thinks it is

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People gather in London ahead of a Support the Strikes march in solidarity with nurses, junior doctors and other NHS staff (PA Wire)

If the NHS staff council vote to accept the government’s pay offer, it will be a pyrrhic victory for health secretary Steve Barclay. Forcing the nurses into such a deal is a slight to their dignity, dedication and popular acclaim, but more importantly it will exacerbate resourcing difficulties by hindering recruitment and accelerating the resignations of experienced staff, frequently into much more expensive agency posts.

The NHS will be poorer in financial, qualitative and experiential terms. For the Tories it will further alienate thinking voters, but maybe that is their hidden agenda: they will be more assured of being able to pass on the mess they have created in the NHS and the rest of the country to Labour to sort out. Job done.

Tim Sidaway