Commenting on the government's pay award for NHS staff, the director of policy and strategy and interim deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin, said:

"NHS staff have shown great commitment through the challenges of recent times, not least the pandemic.  Trust leaders are clear their contribution and efforts should be recognised in the pay award.

"This announcement shows some movement towards a higher pay award for some staff groups and it is positive to see a targeted approach for the very lowest earners. But, for many, it still falls well short of acknowledging the increased cost of living, which means NHS staff face real hardship.

"Trust leaders will be frustrated and concerned too that certain staff groups have been excluded from this award, including junior doctors, given the potential this has to create division in the wider workforce. We will also need to study the full details of this announcement closely once they are made available.

"There is also a critical and wider problem here for the NHS. Time and again we have told the government that any award must be fully funded. Failure to do so will eat into budgets that are already overstretched, impacting on services for patients.

"Unfortunately, that is precisely the risk we face right now.

"NHS England has a 3% pay uplift baked into national funding pots. In the absence of a fully funded offer, this announcement will result in a hit to health budgets which will be passed on to frontline care.

"Trusts and the wider NHS already face stretching efficiency targets so there is no prospect this funding shortfall could be filled by further efficiencies on the front line.

"As inflation eats away at the NHS settlement, amid rising costs and the need to cover the withdrawal of COVID-19 funding, it's hard to say with certainty what that would mean. But it puts at risk funding for key services like cancer. Planned development of other vital services, including primary care, could also be disrupted.

"A further major concern is funding for local-authority commissioned roles, including many staff working in community services. Urgent clarity is required on the pay award funding for these roles, which are so crucial in plans to help people live independently and deliver care closer to home.

"Trust leaders understand the demands on the public purse but pay is the bottom line when it comes to recruiting and retaining the NHS workers we need.

"This is a pay award that will fall short of what many staff expect, yet the further risk here is that it is one the NHS can ill afford."