Health workers run out of patience with Stormont budget delay

The Northern Ireland Executive is now seven months into the financial year without a budget.

One of the remarkable things about this situation is the relatively muted practical impacts.

Public sector managers have adapted to emergency budget procedures; the money still flows, services are delivered, wages are paid.

But this week real consequences began to emerge as hospital doctors ran out of patience and announced two strikes next month .

The lack of a Stormont budget means the doctors cannot be given the 3.5% pay uplift which was recommended by an independent body and accepted by the health minister.

Elsewhere in the UK doctors have had that extra 3.5% in their pay packets since April.

"I don't know long you'd like us to wait?" said Clodagh Corrigan from the doctors' union, the British Medical Association (BMA).

The BMA met the health minister two weeks ago, and Corrigan said they were told that there will be no pay rise before Christmas "if at all".

In response resident doctors will hold a 24-hour walk out on Friday 20 November while consultants and specialists will operate a much-reduced service on the following Monday.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has opened a ballot , external for industrial action for the same reasons as the doctors.

"It is despicable that, year after year, nursing staff in Northern Ireland are forced to fight for a pay award that colleagues elsewhere in the UK receive as a matter of course," said Professor Rita Devlin, executive director of the RCN in Northern Ireland.

"Would governments in England, Scotland or Wales allow their health service staff to go indefinitely without a pay award? The answer is no.

Health Minister Robbie Butler has attempted to strike a conciliatory note while acknowledging there will be no movement without a budget deal.

"I remain committed to implementing this year's pay award but unfortunately, I am currently unable to do so in the absence of a sufficient budget being agreed for my department," he said.