NHS Strikes

The Guardian seems to open its open pages to just about anyone these days and here's an example with a piece by a chap called Mike Marqusee who presents himself as just another NHS patient when he is, in fact, a well known political activist having been editor of Labour Left Briefing, an executive member of Stop the War Coalition and the Socialist Alliance.

So we can see where Mike's coming from, but the passing reference to the Francis Report is ridiculous and misleading because the problems of poor care and neglect were not caused by 'fewer staff working harder to treat more patients for leads pay' - instead the unnecessary deaths of of up to 1200 patients came about years ago, at a time of relative plenty for the NHS.

Which means that Mike is making a bogus political point rather than one that is really about patient care and how the NHS is run.

What Mike also fails to address in looking cost of living is that while he bemoans the drop in real wages, he completely ignores the biggest single cost facing most people - housing costs - and that for anyone with a mortgage working in the NHS (or anywhere else for that matter) their housing costs have fallen substantially as well.  

As ever, people like Mike tend to ignore this obvious point by suggesting that public sector pay can be addressed via bonus earning bankers, corporate asset strippers and a tax avoiding elite - although these groups have all been around for years, right through the years of the last Labour Government, of course. 

So the case for strike action in the NHS would carry greater weight if it were directed at getting a better deal for the lower paid, but as things stand there is no distinction being made about the very different circumstances facing different groups of staff - this is not a 'one size fits all' problem. 

In any event, I wish Mike well because if there is an NHS strike in England he will just have his treatment re-arranged for another day even if lots of other people would not find themselves so lucky.      


NHS staff must ignore the guilt-tripping and fight for fair pay

Far from 'taking it out on the patients', exploited health workers are actually taking action for my wellbeing



By Mike Marqusee - The Guardian

Under pressure: NHS wages have declined in value by 10%-14% since 2010. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

As a result of a long-term illness (multiple myeloma), visits to Barts and the Royal London hospitals have been part of my regular routine for some years. I never cease to marvel at the range of responsibilities involved in keeping me alive and alleviating my aches and pains.

Nurses, technicians, receptionists, porters, admin and clerical workers, cleaners, pharmacists, phlebotomists, pathologists, doctors, and others all in their different ways perform essential tasks. If any of them drops the ball, patients' wellbeing can be compromised, sometimes fatally.

Sitting in the day unit at Barts with my IV drip and reading the newspapers, I can't help but compare this weight of responsibility, and the diligence with which it is discharged in the vast majority of cases, to the wanton irresponsibility of bonus-primed bankers, asset-stripping corporate executives and our whole tax-avoiding elite. And I do wonder how it is that more people are not sickened by the perversity of our system of rewards.

Sometimes I can almost see a grey cloud of financial anxiety hovering over hospital staff, who struggle to meet the rising costs of living with wages that have declined in value by 10%-14% since 2010. Thanks to years of pay freezes, NHS workers face mounting debts, forcing some to resort to payday loans and even food banks. Meanwhile, they stretch themselves to make the best of diminished resources and increasing demands at work, only to find themselves scapegoated for failures or bullied by management, who press them endlessly to deliver ever more "savings". Fewer staff are working ever harder to treat more patients for less pay. You don't have to read the Francis report into the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal to see where this is leading. Ultimately, it is patients like me who will pay the greatest price.

Now the government has twisted the knife by rejecting the independent pay review body's recommendation of a 1% pay rise for all NHS workers. While the proposal has been accepted by the Scottish government, it seems that in England even this minimal, below-inflation award is considered too generous. Instead, the government proposes to confine the 1% increase to staff already at the top of their pay bands, which will exclude 58% of NHS workers – among them 70% of nurses and midwives.

This latest rebuff may well prove to be a provocation too far. In response, Unison and Unite are moving towards balloting their NHS members over a campaign of industrial action including strike action. The first step is on Thursday when unions hold a day of local protests to highlight the injustice of NHS pay.

There has, of course, been a mighty wail of outrage. The NHS employers' group has already warned health workers not to "take their frustrations out on the patients". As the ballot nears, we are sure to see NHS staff bombarded by such messages. They will be called "selfish" and "callous", and told that their demands are excessive. As a patient dependent on NHS treatment for my continuing survival, I hope they will resist this guilt-tripping. For me, their fight for better pay is a fight for my wellbeing: not a luxury but a basic necessity.

What is happening to the NHS is, of course, only one example of the wider impact of austerity, but it is one of the most egregious – not because NHS workers are a "special case" (many other groups of workers are struggling with declining real pay), but because underpaying staff says a great deal about our collective priorities and values. Governments have long exploited the goodwill of NHS staff, who are in fact extremely reluctant to "take it out on the patients" – health workers and their unions will make sure there is proper cover for emergencies and continuing care for those confined to hospitals during any industrial action. But I hope more of them will now see that passively accepting their fate is doing those patients no favours. The real danger for us is what will happen if the attack on the NHS and its workforce continues unabated.