“At breaking point”
NHS workers rally for proper funding
Reading time: 4 min
Hard working NHS workers, and supporters, held a rally at Westminster yesterday (22 Apr) calling for our NHS to be fully and properly funded.
Hundreds of Unite members from across the UK joined the protest at planned cuts to NHS budgets and headcounts, with the union saying that the NHS is “running on empty” and in danger of a complete breakdown, with the cuts so serious that patient safety is being risked.
Addressing the rally Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Putting the NHS on the road to austerity mark two won’t get the NHS off its knees. Who pays the price? Everyday people and their families. This is not acceptable under any government, let alone a Labour government.”
The rally took place as pathology and clinical engineering staff at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust prepared for the industrial action at Queen’s Hospital in Romford over outsourcing and pay protection.
Strikes are planned for from 27 April to 1 May after having taken eight days of strike action in March and February.
Unite recently revealed that jobs cuts to NHS England staff hit women and BAME workers hardest, while health visitors at the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board have been taking weeks of industrial action in their campaign to receive the correct salary based on their qualifications.
Many from the dispute in South Wales attended the rally in Westminster, and Alison Cleaton posted on social media that, “It’s such a fabulous day to not only highlight the issues of the cuts in the NHS but to spend it with a group of organised, pioneering, dedicated group of women who are not afraid to stand up against the establishment who are trying to get away with not paying them for the value of the work that they do.”
Unite is demanding that the government must:
- Stop the mass job cuts immediately – cutting an already overstretched workforce will put patient care at risk and push staff to breaking point.
- Respect and implement the Covid inquiry recommendations including:
– Urgent and emergency care capacity should be increased to make sure hospitals can manage future surges in demand.
– Support for healthcare workers should be strengthened to ensure staff retention and improved resilience.
This means NO dangerous NHS cuts. - Review and revise the headcount reduction directive – workforce planning must reflect current population growth rates, rising services demand and not be based on the flawed assumption that pre-Covid staffing levels were sufficient.
- Respect and protect the vital role of non-clinical staff – it’s time to end the false divide that diminishes their vital contribution to safe and effective care and stand up to protect both clinical and non-clinical roles from cuts.
Below are photographs from the rally.
By Keith Hatch
Photos by Mark Thomas
