FOR years staff and patients alike have been told to accept the cuts which are ripping through the NHS.

We have been informed by politicians and NHS managers that the cuts — amounting to more than £20bn nationally — are unavoidable, necessary and vital to the future of our health system.

We have been told ‘we are all in this together’. But it appears ‘we’ are not.

Because while frontline NHS staff look likely to be see pay frozen for a third year, some of those at the top have accepted an inflation-busting pay rise.

When set against their sizeable salaries, the £5,000 to £10,000 they will pocket could be seen as small change.

All the more reason to refuse the rises and show solidarity with their staff, who in some cases only earn marginally more than the increase their bosses will get.

No doubt these managers think they deserve a pay rise for steering their respective ships through difficult times. However, so will staff on the front line.

Actions speak louder than words from leaders in times of austerity, particularly in the public sector. Perhaps the directors of Oxfordshire’s health trusts might take the time to consider this.

They are not stupid people. They should be able to grasp the difficulty this will cause and weigh, as managers, whether it is actually counterproductive overall to their organisations.