NHS Strikes and Pay Rise
We owe all NHS staff our full support. Day in, day out, they make an incredible contribution to our health service. Their bravery and selfless dedication throughout the pandemic represent the very best of our society.
On 20th of December I was proud to join striking nurses and ambulance staff on their picket lines at Aintree Hospital show solidarity to our overworked and undervalued NHS staff who have had enough of 13 years of Tory austerity. I spoke about this on BBC Radio Merseyside and you can listen to what I said here, from 1 hour, 10 minutes and 30 seconds in.
Despite the remarkable efforts of staff, I am concerned that years of Government mismanagement and neglect has resulted in record NHS waiting lists and chronic staff shortages. Our health service entered the pandemic with 100,000 vacancies. Years of pay freezes and burnout are affecting hard-pressed staff; work-related stress has increased; and mental health is consistently the most reported reason for staff absence.
Following recommendations by NHS pay review bodies, most NHS staff are due an uplift in pay of between 4% and 5% in 2022/23. However, no new money has been announced to pay for any increase above 3%, with Ministers insisting this will need to be paid for from existing health budgets. The NHS Confederation warns that, as a result, the NHS faces its first real-terms cut in funding since 1997, as health leaders face impossible choices over whether to cut patient care or reduce investment in new technology and diagnostic capacity to make up for the shortfall in funding.
Valuing our NHS workforce, through fair pay and conditions, is essential to retaining staff and tackling vacancies. I am concerned, however, that unfunded pay rises will place additional pressures on already stretched budgets, as the NHS continues to deal with backlogs that will take years to clear.
The number of people on a waiting list for hospital treatment stands at a record 6.6 million. Meanwhile, the NHS faces its greatest workforce crisis in its history. Yet a recent cross-party report concluded that the Government has shown a “marked reluctance to act decisively”, with persistent understaffing posing a “serious risk to staff and patient safety”.
In my view, the Government has a responsibility to ensure our public services are run well and that public sector workers are treated and paid fairly. We need a credible plan to recruit, retain and train the staff our NHS needs to bring down record waiting lists and deliver safe, high-quality services. This is therefore not just a moral imperative but also crucial for the future functioning of our NHS.