NHS workers are taking to the streets across the UK to demand higher wages.

Health service staff were excluded from the wage increase for around 900,000 public sector workers announced a couple of weeks ago because they are in the final year of a three-year pay deal.

Instead they are due a pay rise next April, but unions want the Government to show its appreciation for NHS staff by bringing it forward to this year.

More than 500 health workers have died so far following exposure to coronavirus.

The NHS staff are staging socially-distanced protests to demand the Government recognises their role in the Covid-19 fight through higher wages.

Protesters gathered in St James’s Park and on Horse Guards Parade in central London ahead of their demonstration in the capital.

NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)

A samba band could be heard leading people in chants of “One, two, three, four, five, keep our NHS alive”.

NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The protesters observed a two-minute silence for colleagues who have died from Covid-19, before making their way along Whitehall towards Downing Street.

NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The protest continued in Parliament Square.

NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Meanwhile, NHS workers also gathered for a demonstration on Glasgow Green.

NHS national pay protest
(Jane Barlow/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Jane Barlow/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Jane Barlow/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Jane Barlow/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Jane Barlow/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Jane Barlow/PA)

Scottish Labour shadow health secretary Monica Lennon addressed the demonstrators in Glasgow.

NHS national pay protest
(Jane Barlow/PA)

There was also a rally in Millennium Square, Leeds, which included a two-minute silence.

NHS national pay protest
(Danny Lawson/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Danny Lawson/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Danny Lawson/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Danny Lawson/PA)
NHS national pay protest
(Danny Lawson/PA)