{"id":11686,"date":"2017-03-06T17:40:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T17:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11686"},"modified":"2017-03-06T17:40:44","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T17:40:44","slug":"save-our-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11686","title":{"rendered":"Save our NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSickness doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an age,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Unite member Jake Kraweckyj told UNITElive at this weekend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Save Our NHS march on Saturday (March 4), which drew an estimated quarter of a million people from across the UK to London.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jake (pictured) would know \u00e2\u20ac\u201c when he was 21, he was diagnosed with advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma and the prognosis wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t good.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9698\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But thanks to the NHS, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alive and well. Now 25, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in remission and only needs a yearly check-up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe service I received was absolutely second to none,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere were people going well out of their way not only to make sure I was looked after and treated well but that I was comfortable. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t getting preferential treatment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they did that for everyone.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jake, holding aloft a placard reading \u00e2\u20ac\u0098I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t survive cancer to see this\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, has come to London to send a clear message to the government — that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time they \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwoke up\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey have to understand that everyone needs the NHS and there are loads of people who wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be here without it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m one of them,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jake said that it was heartening to see so many young people at the march \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and encouraged more young people to get involved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the future<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYoung people need to get out there now,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey might be healthy at 21 but what about when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 51 or 61 or 71? Who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be out there to look out for them? We need to fight for the NHS now to ensure it has a future.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite community member Joel Christopher (pictured), 16, agreed.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9719\"<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYoung people are the future,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe NHS as an institution that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s free at the point of use is dangerously under threat and we cannot save it without young people getting consistently involved. Healthcare should be a human right \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we cannot accept anything less.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The hundreds of thousands of people who marched from Tavistock Square to Parliament Square, chanting, carrying banners and making noise, came together to stand up against swingeing NHS cuts and systematic privatisation that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brought the service to its knees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The demonstration was held after the NHS had its worst winter on record \u00e2\u20ac\u201c hospital wait times have skyrocketed, bed shortages are pervasive and ambulance queues are dangerously common.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite paramedic Debbie Wilkson (pictured) is on the frontlines of the NHS and says that the pressure on staff is at breaking point.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Debbie<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under pressure<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re under loads of pressure \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the activity rate is going up about 6 per cent annually at the moment but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no extra staff and obviously no extra pay. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a massive real terms pay cut over the years. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been hard \u00e2\u20ac\u201c really hard.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Debbie added privatisation in the service has become rife.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn the ambulance service, private ambulance use is increasing all the time \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re losing contracts in the NHS to private providers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe fought a long time to have an NHS that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s free at the point of use and now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disappearing before our very eyes,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Debbie noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite health visitor Veronica Steele (pictured), who has worked in the NHS for three decades, has also felt the strain working for a health service that faces a massive deficit in funding.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9612\"<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re always very short-staffed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she told UNITElive. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are expected to do more than what is physically possible for us. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to the point where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how can I serve my clients, how am I going to give them my best when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so pressed for time? I love the job and I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s valuable. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asked to do more with fewer resources and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s become impossible.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite South Durham branch secretary Barbara Campbell, who works as a specialist nurse, also attested to the dangerous lack of resources she sees on the frontline as the NHS is starved of cash.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen staff leave they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not replaced,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also been a lot of down-banding. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhere I work one of my colleagues was down-banded as a specialist nurse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being asked to take on the same responsibilities for less pay.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Barbara, who came down to London from Stockton-on-Tees, said she believed coming to marches can serve as a powerful catalyst for change. Like young Joel and Jake, Barbara has come to fight for the future of the NHS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy mum and dad didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have lots of money so when they died they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave me with much,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut what they did leave me with is so much more valuable — strong unions and the NHS –and I just want to fight to make sure that my children can benefit from those same things as I have.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The greatest thing<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite community member Lara Johnson (pictured) has also rallied in a fight for the future of the NHS, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brought her two daughters, 11 and 9 years of age, in tow.<\/p>\n

\"lara<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important for them to be empowered,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said, explaining why she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brought her children. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bEspecially as girls, they need to know they can shout \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that they have a voice and values that they must stand up for. As a parent, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up to me to enable their voices and show them how they do stand up to power and make things right.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fighting for a well-funded NHS is a deeply personal crusade for Lara and her family \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in 2014, her 8-year-old stepson passed away, and Lara attributes his death to changes made with the automation of appointments in her local area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt was a cost-saving change,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSomebody made a financial decision that did not protect him. And that was before the worst of austerity has hit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s become even worse. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put a price on lives. As a family, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had to live our lives around that loss.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe all pay into the system, we all contribute,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Lara added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government has the power to fund the NHS for the future. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deliberately and systematically refusing to fund what is the greatest thing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ever been given to this country by a Labour government.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Values<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, addressing the crowds at a rally after the march ended in Parliament Square, also shared a personal loss. Before the existence of the NHS, Len\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mum and dad lost their firstborn son when he was only three.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe died because of a lack of healthcare,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy mum told me of the scenes in the 20s and the 30s when mothers would beg on the streets with their children in order to get a few pennies to go see the doctors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey drilled into me how important the NHS was \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was our parents and grandparents who fought to give us the health service. The NHS is our heritage and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our duty to make certain we pass on our health service to future generations.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Railing against the government which says we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford the NHS, he hit back, saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to not<\/em> have the NHS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou bailed out the banks \u00e2\u20ac\u201c bail out the NHS as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Len was joined by a range of speakers which included health workers, union leaders, and leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Corbyn told the crowds that the destruction of the NHS wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happening in a vacuum \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he pointed to the underfunding of education, the treatment of homeless people, the treatment of low-paid workers among other issues as all connected to a moral rot that’s setting in under the auspices of a Tory government.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It all comes down to values, Corbyn argued.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDefending the NHS is defending a basic human value and a basic human right,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t walk by on the other side when someone needs support. You put your arm around them and you give them the comfort and help that they need.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the NHS has been doing for all of us all of our lives,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur very presence here helps to guarantee its future.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSickness doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an age,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Unite member Jake Kraweckyj told UNITElive at this weekend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Save Our NHS march on Saturday (March 4), which drew an estimated quarter of a million people from across the UK to London.   Jake (pictured) would know \u00e2\u20ac\u201c when he was 21, he was diagnosed with advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[29,75],"wps_subtitle":"March draws quarter of a million people","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11692,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686\/revisions\/11692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}