Protesters massed outside Whipps Cross Hospital to call for a decent pay rise for NHS staff in recognition of their efforts during the pandemic.

The rally today (Saturday, July 3), was organised by Waltham Forest Trades Council and marked the 73rd anniversary of the formation of the NHS.

Protestors called for an immediate 15 pay rise for all health and care staff including those in privatised sectors.

The group also called for Private Finance Initiative to be scrapped and all PHI debts cancelled.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March insisted the 1 per cent payrise allocated to NHS staff was as much as the Government could afford amid the financially tight times of the pandemic, although Labour said it went against a Government promise made last year for a 2.1 per cent pay rise.

A spokesperson for Waltham Forest Trades Council said: “Our free National Health Service was founded 73 years ago after a mass pressure of the working class. It was a service won by the struggle of trade unionists and socialists.

“But decades of austerity, underfunding and privatisations by the Tories and right-wing Labour has left our NHS in a dire situation. It left patients not being able to get treatment and waiting to be seen. It left our NHS workers underpaid and struggling to make ends meet as well as exhausted and burnout. This cannot continue.”