Worn-out and unrewarded: nurses’ pay dispute is key to NHS future
Posted 23 June 2023 - 01:00
In the health service’s 75th anniversary year, nurses are keeping its founding principles alive by campaigning for better pay and staffing
The NHS is 75 years old on 5 July 2023, which is a significant anniversary but one that could go by almost unnoticed for all that is going on in the health service right now.
Staff are more likely to be reaching for their placards than hanging out the bunting, as nurses prepare for another potential round of industrial action while, as I write, consultant colleagues are set to join junior doctors on the picket lines. The atmosphere is far from celebratory amid these fights for fair pay and safe staffing.
Taking a united stand to defend the NHS
However, three-quarters of a century since the post-war Labour government’s minister of health Nye Bevan opened the first NHS hospital in Manchester, one of the health service’s founding principles – that care be available to all regardless of ability to pay – is intrinsically tied to today’s strikes.
‘The strikes are not acts of militancy, but are borne out of principles and values that underpin the NHS’
The NHS is its people, and they are frustrated they are unable to fully meet patient need due to a lack of staff and resources. Worn-out and unrewarded, staff are worried about the patients and people they care for. They are taking a stand for the very future of the NHS and showing they have a united voice.
The strikes are not acts of militancy but are borne out of principles and values that underpin the NHS – not least respect and putting the patient or person being cared for at the heart of everything. Ministers and opponents of industrial action argue it harms patients while those striking will say those they care for are being harmed by governments’ failure in their duty to ensure there are enough staff to look after them.
PODCAST: Why better pay is still worth fighting for, with Pat CullenReasons to be cheerful
To mark the NHS’s 75th anniversary, we will shortly publish a feature on nursing figures and the mentors who inspired them – and I promise you, it’s a truly uplifting read. Meanwhile, many of us at RCNi have been judging entries for this year’s RCN Nursing Awards. These showcase a highly innovative, multi-skilled, safety-critical and passionate profession that is a worthy guardian of the NHS.
This, there is no doubt, is something worth celebrating.