The NHS is not the same as England: Nurses are the worst people you can be, and they are the only ones you can buy, and if there is a alternative, it is the worst you can do
Inflation is in double digits, and the recession — the worst of all Group of 7 countries — is expected to last deep into 2024. The health service is on life support and there is a shortage of workers. Millions of people cannot afford to heat their homes, and homeowners face soaring mortgage rates. Food banks, which barely existed a decade ago, are at breaking point, and 14.5 million people are in poverty. It is not good, winter is here.
The majority of the nurses will be taking to the picket line for the first time. But they are joining workers across Britain’s public services in walking out of work and demanding increased pay and conditions, furthering a swelling tide of strikes unlike any seen in the UK for decades.
Ordinary Britons are saying that solidarity is the best way to suffer, and against those who insist that there is no alternative.
It came after several years of hardship for employees of Britain’sNational Health Service, a revered but tired institution that is straining due to staffing shortfalls, sky- high demand and stretched funding.
There is a strike planned by a nurse who believes that paying staff what they are worth will allow them to pay their bills. “During one of my worst shifts I was the only nurse to 28 unwell children … it’s not safe and we cannot deliver the care that these children need at times,” she said.
“I feel really sorry for the young girls who are now trying to get into the profession, they have to pay for their training. Everyone is under pressures that the public needs to understand. You have to come into A&E and see the queue, there are no beds.
Since she qualified three years ago, the working conditions in her department have worsened and she said it was a danger to both staff and patients.
“It’s definitely scary. Ms. Sudol said that it is scary for them because their registration is on the line.
NHS workers are screaming at the same time, but they are not showing the same spirit – the UK NHS strikes back against the Covid 19-pandemic
Earlier this year, the RCN rejected an offer by the government to increase nurses’ pay by a minimum of £1,400 ($1,707) a year, which amounted to an average rise of 4.3%, well below the rate of inflation.
The standoff follows years of disputes over the level of pay for NHS employees. Nurses’ pay dropped 1.2% every year between 2010 and 2017 once inflation was taken into account, according to the Health Foundation, a UK charity that campaigns for better health and health care. For the first three of those years, their pay was frozen.
A record 7.2 million people in England – more than one in eight residents – are currently waiting for treatment, according to the British Medical Association. The figure seven years ago was 3.3 million.
“I work alongside some amazing (nurses) who have come in early, left late, worked through breaks and lunch, agreed to come in on their days off for an overtime shift to make sure their patients are kept as safe as we can manage,” Mackay told CNN.
“I don’t have all the answers and I understand that there is a limit to the money available, but unless the government prioritize health, patient safety, (and) strengthening the workforce then the NHS is going to collapse,” she said.
The free healthcare system of the country forms a central part of its national identity and politics. On a weekly basis, thousands of British people stood outside of their homes to applaud healthcare workers during the early days of the Covid 19-pandemic.
But that has since been criticized as an empty gesture by disgruntled employees, who say the government’s pay offers to staff have not represented the same spirit.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/business/uk-nurses-strike-thursday-nhs-gbr-intl/index.html
Prime Minister Sunak and the UK Trade Unions: The Strike it Cannot Go On, And Its PLANNER SHOWS IT REPORTS
Labour leader Keir Starmer attacked Rishi Sunak on the strike during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, telling him that “the whole country would breathe a sigh of relief” if he halted the strike by striking a deal with the RCN.
The government is scrambling to respond to the situation. The armed forces were being prepared to drive in case of strike action, as per ministers earlier this month. The Police Federation said that it opposed the request to have police officers drive ambulances.
And unions have threatened more action in the New Year, when a cost-of-living crisis that has clouded Britain in recent months is expected to worsen still.
A total of 417,000 working days were lost to strikes in October, the most recent month for which figures are available, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That is the most number in a single month since 2011.
Sunak has been accused by opposition parties of refusing to negotiate with unions in good faith, and not doing enough to prevent strikes from going ahead.
But the ongoing disputes are a thorny issue for both major parties. Labour, a party with strong historic links to trades unions is being careful in urging the government to do more but not supporting picketers.