which accused him of attacking it in the sunday telegraph this morning. he has claimed the doctor s union treated him like a heretic for saying there should be better standards for patients. all sides say they don t want the nurses walk outs to go ahead but without the government agreeing to talk about pay they will be on the picket lines come thursday. this is of course just one of many strikes this month as the country faces a significantly disrupted december. helen catt, bbc news. so is that pay claim lodged by the nurses affordable? let s take a closer look at the figures now with ben zaranko, senior research economist at the institute for fiscal studies. thank you forjoining us. first of all, we hear about the need for more funding for the all, we hear about the need for more funding forthe nhs, all, we hear about the need for more funding for the nhs, so what is the financial state of the nhs at the moment and what is behind any particular pressures on it this year? particular
would mean for the nhs budget. thousands of ambulance workers and other nhs staff are also due to strike on 21st december in a dispute over pay. the walk out will affect non life threatening calls only. sara gorton is the head of health at unison. health secretary steve barclay has said that what is being asked for is unaffordable. it said that what is being asked for is unaffordable. unaffordable. it clearly is not. what is unaffordable - unaffordable. it clearly is not. what is unaffordable as - unaffordable. it clearly is not. what is unaffordable as the i what is unaffordable as the situation at the moment, where we have 133,000 vacancies in the nhs, so what we asked the secretary of state to do at the start of the year was to look at that situation and the growing gap between the staff that we need to provide a safe and effective health service and the staff that we have. the fact that so many people were telling us at the start of the year that they had
the main thing is what it would mean for the nhs budget. ajapanese company has launched a spacecraft destined for the moon. the ispace m1 has taken off from cape canaveral in florida aboard a spacex rocket. the japanese start up are hoping to become the first private company to land on the moon. if the mission is successful, then the spacecraft will deploy two robotic rovers on the lunar surface, as well as a nasa satellite into lunar orbit. now it s time to turn to our 100 women series and meet the oscar winning actress rita moreno. perhaps best known for the role of anita in the 1961 film west side story, but now, at the age of 90, she s speaking out about racial stereotyping and representation in films and on tv. 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal went to meet her. when i could understand what movies were, i wanted to be a movie star. that was the word not an actress but a movie star.
asking for, the 5% above inflation? the first thing is that if you were going to give nurses a 19% pay rise you would have to provide additional funding to the nhs to pay for that and that would mean, probably, higher taxes at some point, that is the thing the government is wrestling with, it seems to have bumped up against how much it is willing to raise taxes and so that is why it is resisting calls for additional spending. is why it is resisting calls for additionalspending. it would is why it is resisting calls for additional spending. it would of course also add demands to the economy, nurses would be able to spend more, could act as a benchmark to which other private sector employers and their workers might start demanding something similar to the nurses. it might add some more to inflationary pressures throughout the economy. a lot will depend on the economy. a lot will depend on the specifics. the big challenge here is what it will mean for the nhs budget. if, here is what it w
year? the nhs budget is being stretched because it year? the nhs budget is being stretched because it was - year? the nhs budget is being stretched because it was set i year? the nhs budget is being l stretched because it was set out year? the nhs budget is being - stretched because it was set out at a time, last autumn when we were expecting inflation to remain relatively low, before the enormous spike in energy prices, economy wide inflation we have seen, so the nhs is facing high energy bills, higher food and fuel bills just like households are. the big thing is that the pay award that has been offered to staff, in the region of 5% on average, is well above what was budgeted for. those plans were built on the assumption of two or maybe 3%, reasonable at the time, that s now pay award has been 5% but there has been no extra cash to provide for it. the nhs has been asked to figure out the difference. that s why a pay offer more in line with inflation couldn t be met with existing bu