LANCASHIRE doctors have accused the government of further damaging the morale of health workers, after last week’s announcement over pay.

The British Medical Association (BMA) criticised the decision not to award a one per cent pay rise to all NHS staff.

Dr David Wrigley, a Carnforth GP who represents Lancashire doctors in the BMA, and is standing for election to BMA UK Council, said: "The government has set itself the target of reducing the English NHS budget by £20 billion but has so far found no realistic plan to achieve this except for punishing those on the frontline by chipping away at their pay and dressing this up as ‘efficiency savings’.

“What message does it send to our hard-working doctors, nurses and other frontline staff when NHS managers have enjoyed a rise of 13 per cent since 2009 and yet doctors’ and nurses’ pay is being outstripped by inflation year after year? It is not surprising that doctors’ morale is going down.@