The letter calls for action on health worker pay, while acknowledging the challenges in funding, and follows strike action last month, the SoR said in a post.

"The letter recognises the position of their 60,000 staff who work in [Health and Social Care Northern Ireland], including our members, and the workforce crisis that they find themselves in. We are all aware of the potentially very difficult winter ahead of us all if there is no resolution to the ongoing industrial dispute," noted Cora Regan, SoR's national officer for Northern Ireland.

Regan said that the letter highlighted the fact that Northern Ireland's health and social care staff remain the lowest paid in the U.K. and have not yet been given a pay increase for 2023-2024 and were awarded a below-inflation increase in 2022-2023.