Inflation-busting pay rises are not high enough to save the health service in North Yorkshire, a union leader warned today.

Recruiting and retaining staff would not be improved without a pay rise of between eight and ten per cent, according to Unison branch secretary at York Health Trust Edna Mulhearn.

Her comment pre-empted Health Secretary Alan Milburn who today announced that nearly 60,000 nurses will receive a 7.8 per cent pay rise.

Nurses, midwives, health visitors and professionals allied to medicine like physiotherapists and radiographers will get a 3.4 per cent basic pay increase. But 57,000 nurses on top scale Grade E have been awarded the additional 4.4 per cent, which will take their salary from £17,830 to £19,220.

Mrs Mulhearn said: "Nurses are understaffed, overworked and underpaid and, until they see that being rewarded in their pay packet, they won't be happy.

"Of course I would welcome any pay increase, but this is not enough to retain staff and to attract new recruits.

"Morale is very low among the vast majority of nurses because there is a lot of pressure on them all year round, not just at this time of year, and the Government has got to be serious about turning the NHS around. I don't think nurses will be happy with anything under an eight per cent rise."

Mr Milburn said: "I realise that the staff are working under increasing pressure, but I can't just conjure trained nurses and trained doctors out of thin air. It takes time to train them."

Both Ryedale Tory MP John Greenway and Hugh Bayley, York MP and Junior Social Security Minister, welcomed the pay rise.

NHS staff such as porters, cleaners and cooks will be offered a 3.25 per cent rise, Mr Milburn was expected to say.

Andrea Hester, assistant director of human resources at York District Hospital, said: "At this stage, until Mr Milburn actually makes his announcement, it is very difficult to comment."

Routine operations at Malton Hospital and others run by Scarborough and North-East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust were suspended from today due to the flu crisis.

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