Beth Webster, Nurse and RCN member, south Wales
As the NHS crisis worsens, more health workers are voting for strike action, backed by strong public support.
Nursing on a cancer care day unit, I can see how every level of the NHS is under severe strain. It’s unusual for us to be fully staffed, meaning chemotherapy and other treatments are often delayed.
Whenever we need to admit patients, there is a struggle for beds. We often have to send them to an understaffed A&E, or send people home knowing they may deteriorate overnight. When we try to arrange community care, we can see GPs and community services are overwhelmed.
Cancer diagnoses are delayed as there aren’t enough radiographers to do scans or radiologists to read them. And there aren’t enough pathologists to read biopsies.
There aren’t enough lab workers, so blood test results and transfusions are delayed. And lack of pharmacy staff causes chemo delays. Shortages of paramedics mean people can’t get in for planned or emergency treatments.
Much of my job now is apologising. Apologising for delays caused by lack of staff and resources, for things I can’t control.
I’m constantly doing the work of two or three people, skipping lunch breaks, and working hours of overtime, much unpaid. We are all exhausted.
The NHS is haemorrhaging experienced staff, and overburdening those newly qualified, which is unfair to them and unsafe for patients.
On top of this, NHS staff worry about paying the bills. Some claim benefits and use food banks, or opt out of their pension contributions.
Because of all this, we will keep striking. Nurses, ambulance workers and physios are all set to take strike action this month. Midwives in Wales have secured a mandate, and junior doctors are currently being balloted.
The strikes are working. The Tory cabinet is split. Tory health secretary Steve Barclay is reportedly pressuring Rishi Sunak to provide more money for a pay deal.
In Wales, the Labour-led Senedd have offered a one-off payment. This is an insult, which will do nothing to improve recruitment and retention. But it does show that governments can find money when they want to. The Welsh government should pay NHS workers and join the unions in fighting for the money from Westminster.
Keir Starmer says that the NHS must reform or die, but his reforms would be death to the NHS. He blames doctors for the current crisis, wouldn’t give NHS workers an above-inflation pay rise, and wants to increase privatisation.
If we want the NHS to continue, we must fight for it ourselves. We must increase the pressure on the Tory government, and a possible future Labour government in Westminster, with coordinated strike action among not just health unions, but all striking workers.
1 February will bring together other sections of workers already taking strike action. This should be used as a big step in preparing for a 24-hour general strike.
See more on NHS in other articles published in the Socialist issue 1210
