By KD Tait Wednesday’s strike saw 20,000 junior doctors leave the frontline of the NHS and join the picket lines of the BMA in a campaign to stop the government imposing unsafe new contracts. The action will pile on the pressure after four out of five junior doctors joined Tuesday’s first all-out strike in NHS history. […]

By Dara O Cogaidhin Junior doctors across England launched a fresh wave of strike action on 6-7 April in their long-running dispute with Tory Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. This 48-hour strike was the fourth walkout since industrial action began. The first strike, called by the British Medical Association (BMA) in January, came as Hunt threatened […]

It’s time Labour showed leadership and solidarity We have the chance to save our NHS and inflict a serious defeat on the Tories THE NHS is in crisis. Everyone knows that. The Coalition and Tory claims to have ring-fenced health spending was and is a cruel deception. In fact funding has been frozen in real […]

By Bernie McAdam The NHS is heading for annual deficits of £2 billion, with regulators calling it the worst crisis in a generation. Shortages Already twelve hospital trusts did not have a single bed available from 4 to 6 December. Another thirty had fewer than ten beds free. Waiting time targets are worse than last […]

In yet another fightback against Tory NHS cuts, over a thousand student nurses marched through central London on 9 January to protest at the loss of their bursaries. Having already scrapped the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and hiked tuition fees, the Tories now have student nurses in their sights. Tuition fees for student nurses will […]

By Bernie McAdam Labour movement solidarity can stop Hunt imposing unsafe contract AS the Tories continue their slashing of NHS funding, junior doctors have quite rightly responded with a massively popular strike. Tens of thousands struck for 24 hours on 12 January, with picket-lines all over the country drawing large numbers of doctors and other […]

Dara O’Cogaidhin The NHS ranks consistently among the top three priorities voters care about. Yet a recent policy, which has barely showed on the political radar of most electors outside of Manchester, threatens to fragment and ultimately destroy the national character of the health service. Chancellor George Osborne intends to hand Greater Manchester control of […]

By Darren O’Coghaidhin, 29 January 2015 Hospital A&E units are suffering their worst crisis since the founding of the NHS in 1948. Nurses warn that patient safety is being is increasingly being compromised by growing pressures across the system. Quarterly performance figures from NHS England for the last quarter of 2014 showed that, for the […]

By Bernie McAdam As health unions call a second strike on 24 November, NHS England’s five-year plan demands more funding. But the plan is a trap for staff and patients. NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens argues that the NHS needs a further £8 billion by 2020, as limited resources lag behind increasing patient demand. […]

  By Dara O’Cogaidhin   The Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign brought about one of the most significant defeats for this government to date – a judicial review in July ruled the government’s decision to close the hospital as unlawful. This was following months of mass protests and campaigning work within the community. But before the […]

By Dara O’Coghaidin, Mental Health worker / 02 September 2013 Established in 1948 to be a free and universal system of healthcare, the NHS reached the pensionable age of 65 in July and is sadly unwell. Patient satisfaction has plummeted from an all-time high of 70 per cent to just 58 per cent in a […]

A recent “correction” in The Guardian makes it the first mainstream newspaper to confirm what many activists, bloggers and most of all, health workers have known for months: the so-called “needless deaths” statistics pedalled by the media are a crude scare tactic designed to shore up public support for “reform” – the Tory term for privatisation. For […]

By a Unite member Leeds Pathology staff took strike action for 24 hrs from 8.30am 16th July 2013 at three acute hospitals: Leeds General Inirmary, St James’ Hospital and Bradford Royal Infirmary which contracts its pathology services with Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. The strike was very successful, calling out all Unite members in Biochemistry, Blood […]

Pathology staff in one large NHS hospital trust, mainly Unite members, have voted for industrial action against the imposition of new shift patterns to replace long standing Out-of-Hours (OOH) working arrangements. The staff balloted, mainly Biomedical Scientists and Biomedical Support Workers, voted 63% for Strike action and 84% for Action short of Strike. Pathology Management […]

By Carla Turner APRIL 2013 could go down in history as the day that marked the beginning of the end for our National Health Service. If, that is, we don’t rouse ourselves to massive nationwide action NOW. General practitioners (GPs) have already started the takeover of the lion’s share of the NHS budget and services […]

A dispute which has been running in a desultory stop-go fashion for years has come to a head in one large hospital trust with the issuing of a consultation plan culminating in a ninety day notice of change of contract for any group of staff required to work on-call from home. The background to this […]

  By Carla Turner Approaching a year since the Health and Social Care bill passed through Parliament, Carla Turner looks at the damage already done, what’s still to come and whether recent protests against local cuts can form the basis for a national campaign to save our NHS In 1948, the Labour government nationalised health […]

Admin and clerical workers at Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust recently staged five days of strike action against attempts to cut wages and jobs. With action expected to escalate, Mike Black sent in this report from Leeds. To start by backtracking a bit – Unite Leeds Teaching Hospitals Branch invited Dave, a Unison Steward from Mid Yorkshire to […]

The fight to save the NHS starts with the pensions strike on 10 May, argues NHS worker Dara O’Connell   A HUNDRED thousand health workers in Unite will take strike action on Thursday 10 May over attacks to their pensions. Members of the PCS, UCU, Nipsa and the RMT will join them, as strikes hit […]

Andrew Lansley’s privatisation remains on track, hidden by a public relations smokescreen, argues Jacqueline Davis at Comment is Free

General strike can bring down Tories First step is All Out on 30 June Build cross-union anti-cuts committees Act with the union leaders where possible, without them where necessary Unite the anti-cuts movement – for an All – Britain Anti-cuts Federation The cat is out of the bag. Cameron’s adviser Mark Britnell says the NHS […]