The NHS is “paying the price” for a decade of austerity and cannot “continue to weather” a winter of strikes and strikes, according to a senior health official.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents most healthcare organizations, said the service was “running as expected” on Wednesday as thousands of emergency workers went on strike for the first time in 30 years. Taylor urged both sides to tone down their rhetoric and negotiate to avoid further strikes over wages and benefits.
He said: “We will repeat the call to the unions and the government to stop the rhetoric and start negotiations. We must not slip into more and more trade union action.”
Mr Taylor said the strikes were in addition to longstanding issues affecting the NHS. “There are signs of hope for the future, but now we are paying the price for these 10 years of austerity, for lagging behind Covid, for not addressing these issues,” he said.
“So this winter promises to be incredibly hard. We can not do anything with it. But the actions of trade unions exacerbate an already difficult situation.”
Mr Taylor also urged the public not to delay seeking medical help. “No one really has an interest in people not coming forward,” he said.
Thousands of members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have gone on strike for the second time this week as it continues its campaign for a 5% pay rise against retail inflation of over 19%. The RCN and three unions whose members went on strike on Wednesday have threatened to intensify union action in the new year if collective bargaining does not resume.
The government has given NHS workers a £1,400 pay raise this year, averaging 4.5%, and says their wage demands are “priceless”. Health Minister Steve Barclay, who has been criticized by unions for a strike by health workers who made a “deliberate decision to harm patients,” is reportedly considering an accelerated NHS pay increase next year to settle the dispute, but has so far rejected any proposals. from current wages.
NHS staff often have to wait until the completion of the public sector pay review process, usually in the summer, to receive a retrospective pay increase, although recommendations are made by an independent review body in April.
Saffron Corderi, acting director of NHS Providers, which represents England’s hospitals and ambulance services, said the coming days will be “challenging times” due to unmet demand for services following the strikes.
“I think the emergency services in particular will feel the strain in the areas where there have been strikes that have affected emergency services in all parts of the country except East Anglia,” she said.
“So there’s real pressure, pent-up demand, as well as additional pressure to postpone all of these surgeries and meetings that had to be postponed.”
Ms Corderi said the extra demand would hit the NHS, which is already experiencing a “fundamental shortage of staff” with frontline staff “significantly overworked.”
“Now we need to see the government sit down at the table and have a serious discussion and negotiations about wages, because this dispute is about wages, as well as working conditions and patient protection,” she said.
In a message to ministers, she said there were over 130,000 job openings in the NHS and “we are bleeding over wages and working conditions, especially in the lower classes.” She said the welfare system was also “on its knees”, which affected the NHS as it made it harder for hospitals to release patients back into the community.
In a grim assessment of the NHS this winter, Ms Cordery said: “Even before the union’s action, we knew we were in for hard times.”
She said: “Demand is very high, the workforce is not where it should be, and we know we have the flu which is causing an increase in hospitalizations, we have skyrocketing queues for mental health treatment. We are now having Covid back and we just had a very cold wave so if we have another wave that puts us in a bowler we will be in a really tough situation.
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.