On Tuesday 1st July I helped host the TUC’s NHS lobby of Parliament. A large group of NHS workers from across the country came to Westminster to put pressure on the Government to give NHS workers a fair pay deal.
NHS staff from the East Midlands told me about the huge pressures they are facing, including problems of low morale, and how the Government’s broken promise on pay has made recruiting and retaining staff even more difficult.
Pay restraint in the NHS is essential and will have to continue, including under a future Labour government. However, I believe this can and should be done in a fair way with lower paid workers relatively protected and higher paid workers taking a greater share of the pain.
That is not what is happening under this Government. David Cameron’s top-down, backroom NHS reorganisation has wasted £3billion. Some senior managers have received six figure pay-offs, and 4,000 managers who were initially made redundant because of the reorganisation have since been re-employed elsewhere in the system. The Government’s cuts to nursing posts and training places have also lead to soaring costs for temporary and agency staff. NHS Foundation Trusts spent £1.4 billion on temporary and agency staff last year – 160% more than they planned – and the total agency staff bill for the NHS as a whole was £2.4 billion.
I am determined to do everything I can to fight for a fair deal for NHS staff, and expose what is really happening in the NHS under this Government.
