Senior nursing official has 'little confidence' in acceptable pay offer from Scots Government

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Senior nursing official has 'little confidence' in acceptable pay offer being made from from the Scottish Government.The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland opened a ballot of members on Thursday that could result in staff taking strike action for the first time in Scotland.The ballot comes after a 5 per cent pay offer was resoundingly rejected in the summer, and the union has been campaigning for an offer equal to "inflation plus 5 per cent" - about a 15 per cent increase.Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said earlier this week he will get back around the table with a "significantly improved" offer, with talks expected to start on Wednesday.Speaking as a group of nurses gathered outside Holyrood on Thursday, RCN Scotland director Colin Poolman told the PA news agency: "Unfortunately, I don't have huge confidence currently."Although hearing 'significantly improved offer' has to give us some confidence, I'll wait and see once negotiations start up."Ultimately, it will be our nurses that decide, whatever offer comes in, whether it's acceptable or not - but the one thing that I can tell you is they feel undervalued, underpaid, understaffed and therefore they're looking for an improved offer."The talks come against the backdrop of financial pressure in the Scottish Government, with Deputy First Minister John Swinney announcing £500 million in cuts as a result of an increased pay offer for local authority staff.Any attempt to tell NHS staff that an improved pay offer could have a negative effect on health services was described as "emotional blackmail" by Mr Poolman."That's pure emotional blackmail on our nurses - it's unacceptable and quite offensive actually," he said."It's the politician's job to go away and find the