There could be a pay increase for hospital staff in the UK. So wrote Reuters. Addressing union leaders today, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “willing to discuss a pay increase” in a bid to end one of the biggest strike waves in decades.

The UK’s National Health Service is providing free medical care to all UK residents but has faced severe shortages of staff, funds and outages due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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There was also a general strike in Great Britain, including by hospital staff and ambulance drivers. Combined with a winter flu problem, this led to an emergency being declared in several hospitals. Patients have to wait hours for ambulances to arrive and once they reach the hospital, they are treated in the corridors.

Sunak

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said earlier today he wants to fix the NHS with a radical approach, but appears already to be bowing to increased pressure – also from his own party – to better pay healthcare workers. Sunak wanted to talk to union leaders about salaries, while his ministers initially refused.

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“We need to have fair and reasonable talks about salaries,” Sunak told the BBC. “The door is always open to discuss matters that are important to the hospital staff.”