GMB health chief to address more reps from more than 50 organisations in London
Health unions and campaigns groups will stage a mass conference in London tomorrow [Saturday 12 November]
SOS NHS will hold its first ever conference in central London [1] where campaigners will join forces with NHS staff to demand immediate emergency funding to tackle the most pressing needs of the health service.
The groups include several major health unions, the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, We Own It, Just Treatment, Keep Our NHS Public and Health Campaigns Together.
Rachel Harrison. GMB National Secretary, said:
“Health service workers have suffered more than a decade of real terms pay cuts, been on the front line of a global pandemic and are now in the midst of the the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.
“They are on their knees - that’s why so many are balloting for strike action.
“But this is as much about patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient.
“Something has to change or the service as we know it will die.”
Dr Tony O'Sullivan, Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public and retired Consultant Paediatrician,said:
"When this government came to power in 2010 the NHS was ranked the best healthcare system in the world.
“After 12 years under their management this act of vandalism has now resulted in the highest waiting lists we have ever seen and the worst health outcomes
“The NHS faces its darkest hour, it has been failed by politicians; it is now unarguably on life-support, and it's up to all of us to fight for it."
