Boris Johnson has refused to give NHS staff in England a a cash bonus as a gesture of support after health and social care colleagues in Scotland got a £500 payment.
Asked by the Mirror's political editor Pippa Crerar if he would recognise the sacrifices made by staff on the front line.
Other front line workers - including supermarket staff have received bonuses from their employers.
But Mr Johnson refused to back the call.
Instead, the Prime Minister told the Downing Street press conference: “We do our absolute utmost to support our wonderful NHS staff and indeed have had a three-year pay package for nurses, that I think was 12.8%, and will continue to invest record sums in the NHS.
“I think the amount we invested in the NHS even before the pandemic began was more than any time in modern memory, £34 billion package of investment, and that will continue under this Government.”
NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said NHS staff “actually” didn’t want a £500 boost as their first priority.
He told the press conference: “I think what I would say is, having talked to many staff across the health service day in day out, actually what people probably want right now is three things.
“First of all, to be able to look forward to some sort of respite from what has been an incredibly demanding and continuous year of pressure.
“Secondly, to know that there are reinforcements on the way, that the staffing pressures in the health service will be taken seriously in the years to come, and there are some encouraging signs on that but we’ve got to do a lot more.
“And then, thirdly, to tackle the pressures in the here and now, which fundamentally are about reducing the number of new patients who are turning up in A&E severely ill with coronavirus day in, day out.
“So it’s that combination I think, the sense that there will be some respite, the sense that the health service will get resilient with the staffing support it needs in the years to come, but for right now, that actually we collectively turn off the incessant new admissions that are arriving with very severely ill coronavirus patients.”
