As the NHS turns 73, it faces some of the biggest challenges of its lifetime. The courageous health workers who have worked tirelessly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have been hailed as national heroes. But, while NHS staff in Scotland are getting their pay rise, all other health workers are still waiting.
This birthday, Boris Johnson has the power to do something important. To give NHS staff the gift of feeling valued, to give health workers a vital morale boost, to help the NHS keep and hire the staff it needs, to give a pay rise of £2,000 for everyone.
UNISON has launched an open letter for thousands of NHS workers and their supporters to sign.
The union’s head of health, Sara Gorton, said today: “A proper pay rise would help boost the morale of exhausted staff who have been dismayed and distressed by the suggestion they are only worth 1%. It would signal the PM’s commitment to tackling the backlog of nearly five million patients waiting for treatment.
“The public understands that the NHS needs a pay rise now to prevent staff from leaving for better-paid roles elsewhere. The more UNISON members, their families and friends who add their voices, the louder the message will be that the PM needs to make the right decision.
“NHS staff in Scotland are getting their pay increase – staff in the rest of the UK have waited long enough.”
Only Boris Johnson has the power to give the morale boost the NHS needs to carry on fighting the virus and tackle the mounting waiting lists for non-COVID treatment.
For the open letter to have an impact, thousands of NHS workers and their supporters need to add their names. Can you help spread the word?