{"id":14503,"date":"2018-01-26T16:00:57","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14503"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:59:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:59:10","slug":"cash-boost-nhs-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14503","title":{"rendered":"Cash boost for NHS plea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nearly 2,000 campaigners including health staff, patients, trade union activists and others joined the Labour party last night (January 25) at a rally demanding a significant cash boost for the underfunded NHS.<\/p>\n

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The rally comes after a contentious PMQs on Wednesday (January 24) when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn grilled prime minister Theresa May over an NHS winter crisis that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seen 80 patients harmed or having died as a result of ambulance delays this winter, according to a whistle-blower.<\/p>\n

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Corbyn told MPs of a patient freezing to death after waiting for 16 hours in an ambulance.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese are not isolated cases,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe NHS needs extra money, and it needs it now. People can see the NHS has been starved of resources. People are dying. GPs numbers are down. The NHS is in crisis. When will May face up to reality, and save the NHS from death by a thousand cuts?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Labour is calling for an emergency \u00c2\u01415bn budget for the NHS to stem the crisis in the health service \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and in the wake of the Carillion collapse, the party is demanding an end to NHS privatisation.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere must be no mistake: the NHS crisis is being caused by the political choices of this Tory government,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Corbyn told the crowds at Westminster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Methodist Central Hall last night. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government is failing staff, patients and their families across the whole country. We simply can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go on like this.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government must bring forward an emergency budget for the NHS to give it the money it needs and end this crisis. The Tories are failing our NHS. Labour built the NHS 70 years ago and it will be the next Labour government that secures our NHS for the next 70 years.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Amazing atmosphere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite rep and paramedic Debbie Wilkinson (pictured below), who spoke at the rally last night, told UNITElive that the atmosphere last night was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bamazing\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\"debbie<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRight from the off it was very positive and uplifting \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it actually gave me hope for the NHS,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

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And at the moment as the NHS faces its worst funding crisis in its 70 year history, hope is needed now more than ever.<\/p>\n

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Debbie has worked as an NHS paramedic for nearly 30 years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she estimates that amounts to more than 35,000 addresses she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s visited on 999 calls.<\/p>\n

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Her passion for the job is boundless, even working under conditions that would have prompted most of us to quit long ago.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a job I love and am very proud to do and I know we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re respected and trusted by the public,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

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But the stress of her job \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the gruelling hours, skipped meals and pay so low she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t makes ends meet unless she works overtime regularly \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has, like so many NHS staff, made her ill.<\/p>\n

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She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just recently returned from sick leave and has jumped right into the worst winter the NHS has ever seen.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI asked some of my colleagues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c what feels different this year?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTheir answer was simple \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the crisis we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all been expecting has arrived \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sheer numbers are overwhelming us \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but with no extra funding.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNormally when we go into an A&E department early in the morning, at 7 or 8 o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock, it would be busy but not too bad,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Debbie explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut when I went in at 7 o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock earlier this week, the department was packed. Instead of being one person in a cubicle there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re two.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s filled with hospital beds, with trolleys, with people in the waiting room. Usually, at night we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d catch up and by the morning it would be clear the next day. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not happening anymore \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t catch up. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s totally filled to capacity.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although Debbie says in Leeds where she works long wait times in ambulances aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as common, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spoken to other paramedics who say two to four hours waits have become the norm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Breaking point <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Debbie wholeheartedly agrees with Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assertion that the NHS is not merely facing a winter crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a year-round funding crisis that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reached breaking point.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the crisis ending when winter ends,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she told UNITElive. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOf course winter pressures such as the flu add into it but summer comes and now you have different pressures. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re running at full capacity and we cannot cope.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Debbie fears that things will only get worse as the NHS crisis is exacerbated by mounting recruitment and retentions problems.<\/p>\n

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The nursing staff shortage has been well-publicised, but Debbie says there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a coming crisis in ambulance staffing as well.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are losing paramedics very, very quickly,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she warned. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople are going to work in prisons, as police or for example minor care nurses because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re starting to realise that they have transferable skills that they can use in another setting. And they leave to go work in those other areas because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the same wage for far better working conditions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The only way this mass NHS staffing exodus happening across the board will be stopped, Debbie believes, is through proper pay rises.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have endured seven years of pay cuts,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said in her speech last night. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI live alone and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m struggling financially. If I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work at least one day of overtime a week, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t manage. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to mention the extra hours we work after each and every shift and the missed meal breaks.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no good this government telling us how much they value us, then refusing to give us a pay rise,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m afraid hypocrisy doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pay my mortgage.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And she added that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only through a proper funding settlement from the government \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one that funds social care and mental health services too \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that the NHS will go on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Debbie last night was joined by two other NHS workers who spoke at the rally, as well as Corbyn and shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The rally was the first in a series of events taking place this year as the NHS celebrates its 70th<\/sup> birthday fighting for its very survival.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join us on Saturday, February 3 for a national #OurNHS demonstration organised by the People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Assembly and Health Campaigns Together, and supported by Unite and other health unions. Find out more here.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Nearly 2,000 campaigners including health staff, patients, trade union activists and others joined the Labour party last night (January 25) at a rally demanding a significant cash boost for the underfunded NHS.   The rally comes after a contentious PMQs on Wednesday (January 24) when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn grilled prime minister Theresa May over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[360,713,29,863],"wps_subtitle":"Labour and Unite speak out at rally","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14503"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14503"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26434,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14503\/revisions\/26434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}