Health Minister Robin Swann has warned that he does not want to go back to the 2019 situation in which Northern Ireland health workers went on strike over pay.
It came as Mr Swann said pay increases recommended for health workers in Northern Ireland could not be implemented without an agreed Stormont budget.
The Health Minister said he had accepted the recommendations made by pay review bodies but was unable to move forward with them.
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He said the situation now reminded him of December 2019, during the last Stormont suspension, when nurses took industrial action over pay.
On Tuesday, an independent review body recommended that health service staff should be awarded a pay increase of £1,400 for 2022/23.
There is a separate recommendation of a 4.5% increase for doctors and dentists.
Health unions have already signalled their discontent over the offers.
The DUP has blocked the formation of a powersharing Executive as part of its protest against Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol.
A planned multi-year budget which would have prioritised spending in health has not been progressed due to the collapse of the powersharing institutions.
Ministers remain in position in caretaker roles but are operating with limited powers.
Mr Swann said he had accepted the recommendations of pay awards by the NHS Pay Review Body and Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration.
Speaking at Stormont, he said: “I have accepted the recommendations that have been made by both of our independent bodies in regard to where we need to be.
“There is an Executive commitment for our health workers for pay parity with their colleagues in England and Wales.
“My biggest problem, and we are almost back to where we were in December 2019, January 2020, is that unlike my colleagues in other parts of the United Kingdom I am unable to announce the immediate implementation of those pay awards because in Northern Ireland we still don’t have an agreed Executive budget and until we get to that point we can’t move forward.”
Mr Swann added: “I issued a statement to all MLAs at the beginning of last month warning and cautioning about where we were going in regards to health and the implications that would have with regards to that continuing budgetary uncertainty.
“Unfortunately that is where we now are specifically with the recommendations with regards to the increase in pay.
“We have been here before unfortunately, in December 2019 to January 2020 without a functioning Executive, without a functioning Assembly.
“Then we actually saw our health workers take to the picket lines.
“I don’t want to go back to there, so I think there is an onus now on all politicians to get round the table and to get the negotiations in place to get this place functioning.”
Mr Swann added: “Equally, I welcome and support the recent letter from the three devolved finance ministers asking the Chancellor to increase budgets to address pay and other pressures, including in the health service.”
Earlier this week, Stormont Finance Minister Conor Murphy joined with his counterparts in Wales and Scotland to call on Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to develop a “fair approach” to public sector pay and ask for an increase in devolved budgets to deal with emerging pressures, including in the health service.
DUP MLA Pam Cameron said it was clear the Health Minister would require “additional support” to fund the pay recommendation for health staff.
She said: “The Government should move quickly to allocate additional resources and we will continue to make the case for Westminster to provide adequate funding as well as for a future local executive to tackle waiting lists and reform our health system.
“In order to have a solid foundation for successful devolution those issues that have eroded confidence need to be dealt with once and for all.
“It is a further welcome development that the NI Protocol will now complete its Commons stages before the Westminster summer recess.”
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