Steve Barclay has privately admitted that he will have to increase his pay offer to NHS staff, in a U-turn that may help end the rising strike wave.
However, the Treasury has made it clear that it will have to find new money within the existing health budget, raising the possibility of cuts in key services.
According to senior sources who spoke to The Guardian, Barclay acknowledged that more than 1 million frontline staff deserve more money, after months of repeatedly insisting that the existing £1,400 prize for 2022-23 was all the government could pay.
His hardline stance led to leaders of nurses and health unions calling him a “thug” and saying “intransigence” by ministers would lead to a campaign of industrial action that could last for months and involve regular disruption of National Health Service care and treatment.
His new determination to end the strikes by increasing the offer of £1,400, which has been confirmed by well-placed Whitehall sources, comes ahead of two more walkouts by nurses in England next week, again forcing hospitals to reduce their activities.