Commenting on health secretary Wes Streeting’s speech at the NHS Providers conference in Liverpool today (Wednesday), outlining a package of reforms to the NHS, UNISON head of health Helga Pile said:
“Fixing the long-term political mismanagement and underfunding of the NHS was never going to happen overnight.
“Fundamental problems like staffing shortages or increased demand can’t be solved by ranking trusts or setting more targets for improved productivity.
“Having enough skilled workers is crucial to turning the NHS around, but funding squeezes are forcing trusts to let employees go, freeze recruitment and cut back on training. This is completely at odds with the desperately needed long-term workforce plan.
“The government’s right to get a grip on the huge sums being paid to agencies. But preventing trusts from using agency staff to cover cleaner, healthcare assistant and porter posts won’t solve the problem. All it does is hit low-paid workers trying to keep the wolf from the door.
“If ministers are serious about attracting the staff needed to turn the NHS around, they must focus on greater job flexibility, decent overtime rates and improved pay.
“The government must not repeat the mistakes made by the Conservatives and should be tackling urgent pay issues now. That means holding talks this year to negotiate next year’s wage rise, fixing problems in the design of pay bands and ensuring the lowest hourly rates are well above the minimum wage when it goes up in April.
“The NHS is nothing without its staff. Transforming the service into one that’s the envy of the world will need health employees to be at the forefront of the government’s plans.”
Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
Media contacts:
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
Dan Ashley M: 07789 518992 E: d.ashley@unison.co.uk