Nurses have told the Tory Health Secretary to "put his warm coat on" and meet striking NHS staff after he dodged them on a key visit.
Tens of thousands of Royal College of Nursing members walked out this morning - the first nationwide stoppage in the union's 106-year history.
But Steve Barclay visited London’s Chelsea and Westminster hospital - where a strike ballot did not pass and there is no picket line.
The Mirror understands cameras were told not to film him meeting staff, with the only images showing him sitting in an empty room.
Meanwhile, nurses including RCN general secretary Pat Cullen were on a picket line in freezing temperatures at another hospital less than four miles away.
Downing Street denied the top Tory was “dodging” nurses on the picket lines, saying: “There is strike action in 53 areas of the 264.
“The Health and Care Secretary has met with the unions directly - I don’t think you could say he’s ducking meeting with them.”
But Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen said: “The health secretary missed an opportunity today to get out of his warm office, put his coat on and get down to see nurses on our picket lines.
“I, on the other hand, did not. On my visits to our picket lines in London, Reading, Bristol and Cardiff I was struck by the strength of nurses’ feeling and their determination to do right for their patients.
“They’ve had enough of not being able to give their patients the care they deserve due to chronic underfunding of nursing over many years which has left care dangerously understaffed.
“On Tuesday, Mr Barclay will have another opportunity to hear from nursing staff directly why they deserve fair pay – I suggest he takes it.”
Number 10 and Health Secretary Steve Barclay refused to budge on whether nurses would get more than the 4.75% pay rise that has driven them to strike.
Tory MP Steve Brine, chairman of the Health Committee, said the Health Secretary should now ask pay reviewers to “look again” and “send it back to the pay review body”.
England’s chief nursing officer Dame Ruth May appeared to back striking nurses on the picket line - and called for a resolution to the dispute.
And Tory former chairman Jake Berry warned the pay offer was “too low” and the government must “meet somewhere in the middle”.
But while Downing Street did not completely rule out a higher pay offer, the PM’s spokesman said: “The government’s position is clear and unchanged.
“We think the 5.5% increase on average for newly qualified nurses rising to 9.3% for the lowest paid …. is a reasonable and fair approach.”
The Mirror understands a fresh crackdown on striking workers, with minimum service levels or higher thresholds, could be announced as soon as next week.
Draft laws would only be brought to Parliament in the new year.
No10 did not rule out banning nurses from going on strike altogether as part of the new laws. The PM’s spokesman said “we are developing policy at the moment”, but added there would be a “fair and reasonable” approach.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Instead of scheming up new ways to attack the right to strike, the government should be sitting down for meaningful pay talks with unions.
“But ministers seem more interested in escalating disputes than resolving them. Workers don’t want to go on strike this winter. But they have pushed to breaking point by 12 years of pay cuts.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation which speaks for hospital trusts, demanded the government come to the table.
He said: “No health leader wanted to be in this situation and the strikes could have been avoided had the government attempted to find more common ground with the RCN on pay. The government cannot just sit back and let future strikes happen when patient care is on the line.
“The worry is that this is just the start, that strikes possibly being planned for January could be more severe and coordinated across the different unions, and that we could be in a position of stalemate for the foreseeable future. This benefits no one and the government must act.”
Mr Barclay insisted the Government had accepted the pay review recommendations, adding there were seven million people waiting for operations.
Asked about a nursing workforce "on its knees" and a staffing crisis, Mr Barclay said the Government was recruiting more workers.
He said the RCN's demand for a 19% pay rise "is not affordable given the wider cost-of-living pressures that the public face."
Pressed on whether he is willing to discuss pay with the RCN, Mr Barclay said: "We've been clear that we have an independent process and that is the process we followed.”
Tens of thousands of nurses are away or on picket lines today, on December 20 or both.
General secretary Pat Cullen said there is a “very strong possibility” fresh strike dates will be announced for January if the Health Secretary does not reopen pay talks.
The union must give two weeks’ notice - so dates could be announced before Christmas.
Ms Cullen said nurses are going to food banks and “waiting until their patients eat so then they can eat what's left over. What a way to treat this profession.”
She added: “I woke up this morning very, very early and felt heartbroken as a nurse.
“It's tragic for nursing, it's tragic for patients and it's tragic for the NHS, that the Government feels that they can sit in their offices today and keep our nurses out in the cold."
