Health unions make progress
9 March 2023
Health service workers are making progress in their pay dispute now that the government is talking to all unions directly about NHS England pay.
NHS
NHS
NHS pay settlements in Wales and Scotland likely
9 March 2023
NHS workers in Wales and Scotland are close to settling their respective pay claims. The settlements are below the level of inflation, but higher than the original offers.
Understanding 'excess deaths' - and their cause
The increasing number of deaths in Britain is a concern. We need to ask why – and recognise that there is no evidence that Covid vaccines are to blame. Quite the contrary…
Nurses escalate action [print version]
From 1 to 3 March Royal College of Nursing members at every employer in England with a strike mandate will be taking action including on night shifts.
Doctors to strike over pay
22 February 2023
Junior doctors have voted overwhelmingly to strike in support of their campaign for full pay restoration. They join many other NHS workers fighting for better pay.
Nurses plan to escalate action
22 February 2023
Nurses in England were called on by the RCN to take national strike action for the first time. This is paused for last minute talks with the government.
Nurses blow away the government fig leaf
17 December 2022
Nurses held a national pay strike on 15 December, the first ever in the history of the Royal College of Nursing, with another to follow on the 20th. So far the government is avoiding meaningful negotiations.
Nurses to strike – a big step
8 December 2022
Nurses are about to take strike action for better pay. This is a significant step and the first time the Royal College of Nursing has called a national strike.
Unequal access to GPs: a radical solution needed
15 June 2022
Access to primary health care services is a concern across Britain. Those who work in NHS must take charge of this emergency to rectify the situation.
Barts NHS victory reverses outsourcing
7 March 2022
London health workers have won a significant victory against outsourcing. Facilities management workers at Barts Health NHS Trust, but employed by Serco, will re-join the NHS.
Hospitals: Scientists strike
Biomedical scientists working for East Lancashire NHS Trust started a third period of strike action on 15 December in their pay dispute with the employer.
Financial distortions in the NHS
22 July 2021
Two years after the event, it has taken a court order to reveal that NHS trust lost over £360,000 through the cancellation of a music festival. It’s a symptom of much that is wrong within the NHS
Government to ditch disastrous NHS ‘reforms’
11 February 2021
The government is to reverse the central thrust of the 2012 NHS reforms. Central planning is back on the agenda, finally.
NHS: self-sufficiency is the answer [Print version]
Health services have relied on imported workers for too long. It is unethical and in the long term unproductive.
Hospital staff stop employment transfer bid
Unison, GMB and Unite members have stopped plans by a major acute NHS hospital in Berkshire and Surrey to transfer more than a thousand of its staff out of NHS employment.
Nursing shortages: the answer lies closer to home
Instead of draining other countries of their trained nurses, we should be taking steps to increase the number here who qualify – and the number who stay in the profession.
NHS training body still looking outside Britain
30 May 2019
The body responsible for educating and training the NHS workforce in England is still fixated on importing labour from abroad.
Outsourced hospital workers win rise after May Day strike
8 May 2019
Striking NHS catering workers at two Yorkshire hospitals won a victory on 3 May after a global outsourcing giant agreed a wage rise after walking out on 1 May.
Overdue questions for the NHS
Change is in the air in the NHS, with its most senior managers reportedly pressing for repeal of the destructive Health and Social Care Act. And there are new calls to stop looting doctors and nurses from abroad…
Reunite the NHS
18 March 2019
There are positive signs that fragmentation of the NHS in England is coming to an end. Professional bodies, unions and others are unanimous that the 2012 Health and Social Care Act should go.
NHS plan: still not fit for purpose
The government published its overdue NHS Long Term Plan for England in January. There’s significant spending – but several critical weaknesses…
The NHS at 70: all to play for
It’s been bruised and battered by cuts, reorganisations and privatisations. But little by little workers are ensuring that the integrated service is being put back together and there is a real prospect that it can be rebuilt…
Plan now for NHS workforce
For the first time in almost 25 years the health service in England has set about producing a Workforce Strategy.
Nurses: time to take charge
6 August 2017
There is certainly a nurse staff crisis in the NHS but it is not Brexit-induced – says one of the staffing agencies which are making a tidy fortune from the crisis.
With the single market, why train at all?
The EU Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive – or MRPQ – is a fundamental component of the Single Market. It allows professionals to have their qualifications, obtained in one member state, recognised in another.
So why are we relying on EU healthcare staff?
Do British workers really not want to work in the NHS? No, they want to, but they struggle first to find the money to train, then to live on the wages. And have been reluctant to fight for pay…
Doctors fighting for the NHS
5 September 2016
Hospital doctors have begun a new phase of action in response to the government’s attempt to impose new contracts. Strikes planned for the autumn will take place unless the government halts the imposition and restarts meaningful talks.