07 October 2005
The health service can afford pay rises of no more than 2.5% next year, NHS Employers said this week as concern grew over NHS organisations' ability to balance their books.
The fears were compounded by two legal challenges that could have profound effects on NHS spending decisions and organisations' financial stability.
Barbara Clark threatened to take Somerset Coast Primary Care Trust to court to obtain the anti-cancer drug Herceptin on the NHS. The PCT agreed to her request for the drug on exceptional grounds, but following her victory Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said all women with early-stage breast cancer would get the drug if it could help them. This would cost around £100m a year.
Yvonne Watts went to the European Court of Justice to argue that the health service should pay the £3,800 cost of a hip replacement she had in France in 2003.
The court's decision is not due for six months, but it is feared a victory for Watts could lead to more patients bypassing waiting lists by going abroad.
A three-year pay agreement with NHS staff ends in April and in evidence to the doctors' and dentists', and the nurses' pay review bodies, NHS Employers insisted the service could bear no more than a 2.5% rise.
Gill Bellord, NHS Employers' head of pay and negotiations, said: 'Our evidence calls for a pay award in 2006/07 that is affordable for trusts. Next year's pay award should recognise that more than £1bn has already been invested in modernising pay systems.'
A maximum 2.5% pay rise would ensure the health service's financial situation did not worsen, she added.
NHS unions called for above-inflation pay rises, highlighting the fact that graduates joining the service are paid 8% less than those employed by the private sector.
Unison head of health Karen Jennings said: 'Now is the time for the employers to deliver their side of the bargain with a substantial above-inflation pay rise.'
PFoct2005
