Brown heckled over NHS; BRITAIN/INTERNATIONAL.

GORDON Brown faced shouts of "rubbish" from delegates when he addressed a union conference about pay rises in the NHS yesterday.

A pay dispute has led to the threat of strikes in the NHS.

An independent pay review body recommended a 2.5% rise for NHS workers, but the government decided it should be paid in two stages, which reduced the value of the award to 1.9%.

A handful of delegates shouted out "rubbish" when the prime minister-in-waiting addressed the Amicus section of Unite's conference in Bournemouth about NHS pay rise pledges.

Mr Brown told delegates: "We believe that where people are low paid, they should get a better deal."

He added: "We want to reward the people who work in the National Health Service but we have also a responsibility to make sure we don't have inflation going out of control in this country."

Mr Brown told the conference: "I see issues in the National Health Service that we have got to deal with and we will deal with them one by one over the next few months."

He added: "The National Health Service has got to get better. We have got to value the staff of the National Health Service and recognise people's worries about the future of the National Health Service."

Weekend access to certain services, such as GPs, the lack of time doctors and nurses have to spend with patients, investment and pay were among those worries.

Mr Brown also told delegates the world could learn from the progress made in Northern Ireland and said: "When you see conflicts around the world there's a great deal the successes of Northern Ireland can teach the world."

On housing, he pledged: "In this country in future years we will build more houses so we can meet the demand of people for decent affordable housing for the future."