COHSE

South London Hospital For Women - Occupation 1984-1985

2012-01-22T00:59:00.005Z

South London Women's Hospital, Clapham, South London occupied by staff and supporters 1984 -1985.

Main leaders were radical RCM reps, who had to not only fight the Conservatives closure plans but their own union.

The Hospital is now a Tesco's supermarket

Soviet Nurses at Stalingrad

2012-01-08T01:38:00.014Z

We salute the heroic Soviet nurses & health workers at Stalingrad

"For us There is no Land Beyond the Volga"

Long Live the Memory of
Lyuba Nesterenko

Lyuba Nesterenko was a young nurse trapped in the basement of a ruined building during the battle for Stalingrad. Despite constant German attack, Lyuba continued to care for twenty eight seriously injured men until she to died of a chest wound.

NUPE Nurses 1991

2012-01-08T01:35:00.002Z

NUPE Nurses 1991 Northern Ireland

US Nurses Solidarity With UNISON Nurses 30th November

2011-12-02T22:36:00.003Z

SEIU Nurses in Washington DC back the action by British nurses on November 30th

US Nurses backed our pension protests

National Nurses United members and other US trades unionists march outside the British Embassy in Washington DC. Photo NNU

30th November 2011

As trailled extensively on Stronger Unions last night, one example of international solidarity for our day of action against pension injustice came from our brothers and sisters in the USA, and in particular the National Nurses Union (NNU). Details are still coming through (California is 8 hours behind us), but there were protests outside the UK Embassy in Washington DC, and outside consulates in Boston, Chicago, Orlando, San Francisco and Las Vegas, and letters were handed in at each location. You can see photos of the actions online, and the story even made Le Figaro in Paris, France. The Daily Kos reported that “the United Steel Workers, Teamsters, AFT, ATU, SEIU, AFL central labor councils, Unite-Here, and members of Occupy DC and Occupy Chicago, were among labor and community activists joining the solidarity actions.”

“Even though we all live in different parts of the world, we are all fighting for the same issues,”

said Zenei Cortez, RN, a co-president of the California Nurses Association, and an NNU vice president addressing the San Francisco picket.

In her letter, addressed to Sir Nigel Sheinwald, British Ambassador to the US, NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro wrote:

“We urge the British government to stop its attempt to make public-sector workers pay more and work longer to receive a smaller pension when they retire. The government’s plans will impact women the most, who already suffer from lower pensions. This attack on the people who provide patient care at the National Health Service, teach school children, and provide essential public services is unconscionable.”

Nurses V Bankers - Kingston Hospital 30 November 2011

2011-11-30T19:11:00.005Z

Dateline: 13:00 - 30th November 2011 Kingston Hospital, Surrey

Nurses v Bankers,

Kingston Hospital UNISON Nurses to the fore as as always

Pensions Campaign 2011

2011-11-30T19:09:00.000Z

LibDems: Wanted For Murdering OUR NHS

2011-10-12T18:53:00.002+01:00

9/11 UNISON Badge & Ribbon - We Shall Remember

2011-09-11T12:20:00.000+01:00

UNISON 9/11 Ribbon and Badge

UNISON Nurses handing out 9/11 ribbons at 2002 TUC Congress at Blackpool

UNISON 9/11 Badge from September 2001 worn by London emergency services staff.

UNISON working with SEIU

Colin Robinson COHSE Presidential Address 1989

2011-06-21T00:27:00.005+01:00

COHSE Conference 1989
20-23 June 1989 Royal Hall, The Spa, Bridlington
26th Delegate conference

Colin Robinson President

DELEGATES AND FRIENDS,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Bridlington, to our 26th Annual Delegate Conference. Colleagues, in many respects this has been a good year for COHSE. We have had 18 months now of solid campaigning for what we believe in, defending the NHS and fighting for improved pay and conditions for our members.

We have seen a successful start to direct mailing, as Conference was promised last year. And, perhaps most importantly of all, we have seen our membership rise by more than 10,000.

But colleagues, in a number of other ways the pressures upon us have intensified. We have the rampant Right-wing bullying approach of the Government, intent on privatising the service as its ultimate end. And we have to be aware that the shape of trade unionism is changing.

Mergers and amalgamations will mean that a few big unions will dominate the scene within a few years and we must consider our response to that. We must ensure that no matter what happens the interests of working people are protected.

Since we met last year in Blackpool we have been involved in an epic struggle with the Government on behalf of our members facing the biggest shake up in nurse grading since the start of the National Health Service.

By cash limiting the clinical grading exercise the Secretary of State for Health has sold thousands of nurses short, depriving them of their appropriate grades and recognition of their professional experience and expertise.

By adopting a strategy of working to grade, COHSE nurses demonstrated conclusively to colleagues and managers that their case was just. But the unilateral directives from the Department of Health have left many nurses high and dry with no chance of winning higher grades through the appeals system.

Ministers promised to fund the grading review in full. They broke this pledge and transformed it into a cost cutting regrading exercise. So, rather than create a proper career structure for nurses at the bedside, the Government has insulted them.

The magnificent fight put up by nurses meant we won the media battle hands down. The arrogance of health secretary, Kenneth Clarke, demonstrated by his refusal to meet the committee elected to represent the profession and his refusal to put the grading dispute to independent arbitration, has alienated all who care about the future of the health service. In much the same way as he has slandered doctors, Mr Clarke set about attacking COHSE and NUPE, trying in vain to label us as mindless militants rather than dedicated health care staff.

The boost COHSE received in nurse membership clearly indicates who nurses believed. Our nurse members turned to us in their thousands for help, advice and support. Our stewards, branch secretaries, regional and national officials rose admirably to the task. They gave them that support and continue to do so under very difficult circumstances. And as a result, thousands more nurses have joined us, impressed by what COHSE can offer.

Colleagues, we have placed our trust in the independence of the Pay Review Body. But in future the Pay Review Body will have to be wary of the trickery, treachery and deceit of the Government, which would like nothing more than to undermine it and get rid of it all together.

Our rise in membership and our moves towards reorganisation and direct mailing have left COHSE in good shape to face the 1990s. But we have to recognise thatthe world is changing about us. By the 21st century, the trade union sphere could be dominated by just six super unions. In that environment COHSE would have to look closely at all possible options for its future.

More urgently, the fundamental changes proposed for the National Health Service dictate a strong, unified response and may necessitate such close co-operation that full amalgamation might be the logical solution.

We should not set our face against such changes. But we should not also assume that amalgamation is our only way forward. We are the only union that organises exclusively across all health and social services staff. As such we have a coherence, strength and experience which no other union can match. We will not throw that away lightly. But nor will we adopt a head in the sand approach.

That is what the 'twin track' policy put forward by the NEC means. We owe it to our members and to the wider trade union movement to explore all the feasible options. It will always be the members who decide where we as an organisation are going. We must not allow that choice to
be hampered or restricted by past decisions or prejudices.

We proved over the last year that we are a campaigning union. This year, our Conference agenda rightly makes it clear that's the way we must continue. But as an organisation of 220,000 members we must concentrate resources and decide on priorities. Branch motions call on the union to organise over ten different campaigns.

We could support all of these but it would be dishonest. Our resources as a union would be spread so thinly that our campaigning activity would make no impact. To be effective any campaign must go beyond ritual condem-
nations and involve sound organisational work that will mobilise the maximum number of members.

I believe that this Government's strategy for the complete and irrevocable privatisation of the NHS is right on schedule.

It began in 1979 and, with every rise in prescription charges, it has increased in pace and ferocity. As the prospects of electoral defeat now loom large on the horizon, Thatcher's Right-wing think tanks have never worked harder to produce the elements necessary for a successful NHS sell off.

Mrs Thatcher's new model Health Service will mean propaganda, mininformation, insecurity, poverty and fear in varying degrees for the consumer. It will mean bribery, manipulation, disillusionment, harassment and eventual demoralisation for health workers.

But for the market leaders it will be profit, greed, patronage and ambition.

These are the camouflaged ingredients which I believe will form the foundations for this Government's more efficient, more caring National Health Service.

As a union that helped create the National Health Service, we can have no greater priority than the defeat of the Government' s White Paper proposals. We cannot rely on the doctors to do our work for us.

As nurses, as hospital support workers, as ambulance and community staff, we have daily contact with patients and users. We must warn them of the evils of a market health system geared more to cutting costs and standards than providing for the need of users.

If we go down the road proposed by the White Paper, we will soon end up with a nightmarish American style health care system. With private hospitals competing alongside NHS and opted out hospitals for patients and with tax relief for private health insurance, private medicine will be given a new-found status.

Budget conscious GPs will be forced unceremoniously to dump their elderly and chronically sick patients to fend for themselves. Market medicine does not cater for those most in need of health care.

In the USA nearly 40 million people have to survive without health cover. In the United States private medicine has achieved a unique, unenviable double. It has created the costliest and least efficient system in the world.

Over-treatment of insured patients is rife because doctors are paid on a piece-work basis. As a result an American woman is three times more likely than a Briton to have both a hysterectomy and a baby born by Caesarian section.

While the rich suffer from treatment they don't need, the poor and the sick suffer because they can't get treated. As a result, black children die in the shadow of enormous state of the art hospitals.

Our role in defeating the White Paper must be to challenge Government propaganda and to work hand in glove with consumer and community groups, women's organisations, trade unions and professional associations to create an impenetrable wall of opposition to the proposals.

After ten years at Downing Street, Mrs Thatcher believes herself capable of overwhelming all opposition and setting a new agenda for the nation.

Traditionally the Tories have attacked the NHS by starving it of resources and paying staff poverty wages. They have avoided a full assault on the NHS as a national institution. It is a measure of Mrs Thatcher's belief in her own indestructibility that she is now willing to make that assault.

But I believe that Mrs Thatcher has seriously miscalculated. Despite its problems, the National Health Service remains both an island of equality in a sea of inequality and universally popular. The NHS has always figured near the top in opinion polls among issues of importance in the electorate. The Vale of Glamorgan by-election indicated how fragile Tory dominance at elections can be. Our role as the major health union must be to transform that fragility into a slide that will sweep the Tories from power at the next election.

Colin Robinson
COHSE President

(Maidstone)

COHSE President Conference Address 1991
June 11- June 14th 1991
Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
President Colin Robinson

Conference, I am pleased to welcome you all to Blackpool at a time when the health service has once again hit the top of the political agenda.

The "softly, softly' approach to the Government's health reforms heralded in by William Waldegrave's succession to Kenneth Clarke as Health Secretary lasted just 25 days. That is how long it took the Government's flagship trust hospital. Guys, to shatter the carefully created illusion of a reformed health service delivering choice, quality care and efficiency to NHS patients.

Then we saw Health Secretary, William Waldegrave wash his hands of the trust cuts.

But the people ofMonmouth did not allow him to get away with it. They passed a damning verdict on the Government's attempt to create a two tier service.

Nearly 9,000 beds were closed, temporarily or permanently, last winter to wipe away old debts. Yet within days of the new market health system, further cuts were being made. The Government claims that these problems have arisen because of poor management and overstaffing. But the real reason is the persistent underfunding of the NHS.

Just a few months ago, the Government was willing to give hospitals a blank cheque to treat Gulf war casualties. It is not the resources but the political will, the commitment to public services, which this Government lacks.

Thankfully, our hospitals were not inudated with the sick and injured from the Gulf. So why is the moneyavailable during that crisis not being used to rescue hospitals from their present funding crisis?

Nearly one million people are waiting for operations, many for over a year. Mounting aiting lists have been met not by urgently needed new cash but by cosmetic attempts to manipulate the figures.

Now it has introduced a health service where the market rules. One which is untried anduntested — a leap in the dark. The Government promised greater choice for patients, greater value for money and a list of essential 'core services' which the trusts would have to provide. The reality is quite different.

Patients and non budget holding GPs have to use the hospitals where their health authority have signed contracts. Money or the referral of patients outside these contracts is extremely limited. Even for budget holding GPs, choice of hospital is illusory. The price of care and not the principle of care is clearly the overriding policy of this Government however they attempt to dress it up.

The Health Secretary has claimed that his new system would provide better protection to Cinderella services. But the Guy's experience refutes this. Trusts battling it out for survival will opt for the fashionable hi-tech specialties and ignore the less glamorous services so vital for the local communities they serve. This has been aided and abetted by the Government which
far from protecting 'core services' has allowed them to be diluted into designated services on which business led health authorities can decide

Another symptom of the crisis in the NHS is the widening health gap between people in different social classes. The biggest threat to health in the UK is poverty. Since the Black Committee set out its damning statistics ten years ago, no decade century has seen such a widening of
inequalities. Yet this issue is of such vital concern to the Government that they are still shuffling about with a green paper when the World Health Organisation's charter "Health for All" required them to have drawn up a comprehensive strategy by last year.

The green paper sets out several targets for health managers to aim at: reductions in deaths from strokes, cancers and coronary heart disease, increases in immunisation and breast feeding. But how this is to be achieved and what ministers will do is leftunsaid. Worse still, poverty, homelessness and cuts to the social security programmes are not even discussed. So much for the Prime Minister's commitment to a classless, open society with opportunity for all.

We live in an increasingly divided nation. We live too in an increasingly divided world. It is scandalous that we lavish millions on weapons of destruction and pride ourselves on unleashing a precision military machine against Iraq. Yet we cannot effectively organise emergency aid
to Bangladesh cyclone victims or to the millions starving in Africa. Why is it that the Kurds have to rely on fund-raising concerts for aid while the military Just turns to the exchequer? The end of the Cold War is making the peace dividend a reality.

But can we trust this Government to invest that windfall in overseas aid and in public services rather than fritter it away in tax cuts which benefit only the rich.

For over a decade the whole public sector has been under attack. Local authority services, schools and transport are all threatened by the dogmatic Tory onslaught. It is this political assault which the New Union ofCOHSE, NALGO and NUPE will be well placed to repel. As a union of 1.5 million strong, a union of providers and consumers of public services, we will dominate the public sector and be too large to ignore. I would like to thank those re-
sponsible for all the hard work that has gone into the months of talks.

The health group will be a crucial part of the New Union. It will be nearly half a million strong and one in six of the New Union's members will be a nurse. And they will have the backing of a powerful, democratic union run by and for the members united in their support for good, efficient and caring public services. At this Conference, we have the chance to help make this
vision a reality.

Over the last two years, many of us havebeen bogged down in clinical grading. The burden of appeal after appeal has taken its toll on our branch secretaries and on our activists. Our membership is declining We now need to reorientate ourselves and to concentrate on maintaining and building on our membership base. New Union or not, we have no future if we fail to recruit and make our presence felt at the workplace.

The Prime Minister has said that staff morale in the NHS has suffered because of Labour lies at Monmouth. But we are not managers and administrators intimidated by short term contracts and performance related pay into political submission. For us Monmouth demonstrated that we have the people solidly behind us in our fight to defend the National Health Service and the
result was the best possible boost to the morale of health service staff for many years,

As a public sector union with a long tradition of affiliation to the Labour Party there can be no greater challenge than the next General Election whenever it comes. Then we have the chance to rid ourselves of a Government hostile to the ethos of public service and the welfare state, hostile to the principles of trade unionism and hostile to air rewards to working people.

At the Election, there will be a simple choice: between a party committed to investment in public services and the creation of a democratically run National Health Service devoid of market principles and a rty committed only to dismantling the public sector and denying its staff a living
wage.

We in COHSE must not just make that choice ourselves, we must work relentlessly to ensure that our members, our families, our friends all fully understand the persistently gradual and devious threat to a freely available NHS. We must deliver an historic victory for Labour — not just in the North and Scotland but country wide. We owe it not only to ourselves but to the health service which our union helped create.

Colin Robinson
COHSE President 1991

NHS Future Panel - A Total Stitch Up - OFFICIAL

2011-04-07T17:39:00.008+01:00

Roy Lilley

My local hospital is Frimley Park, FT in Surrey. For around thirty years it has been run by the same excellent chief executive who has remained above the imbroglio of politics and distant from controversy. For some unfathomable reason, yesterday, he opened his doors to the political circus called the NHS Future Forum and condemned the hospital to be remembered, forever, as a crime scene. The felony was to kidnap a word from the English language, cut off its face and finger tips, and render it unrecognisable. A sequel, surely, to Martin Cruz Smith's thriller, Gorky Park. Whatever happened at Frimley Park was not 'listening'. The word is defaced and rendered unidentifiable. The leader of this Gilbert & Sullivan gang of felons, is none other than our old friend, failed CMO candidate and former RCGP leader 'gis-us-a-job' Steve Field. I'm told he commands little support in the professions, has made disparaging remarks about his successor (surely not) and, whilst in office, I thought gave the impression that RCGP docs were behind the reforms when a subsequent survey made it obvious they were not. Strange? His accomplices are: Dr David Kerr, parked after the Tories announced his appointment as an advisor, now to do work in the community; Steve Bubb boss of the ACEVO (or should that be ASBO?); Geoff Alltimes CE of London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (Conservative control); Dr Kathy Mclean (a former GP turned manager); and Julie Moore, graduate nurse, MA and anti-cuts boss of University Hosp Brum, presumably on probation?

There are four areas that are going to listened to:

· The role of choice and competition for improving quality;

· How to ensure public accountability and patient involvement in the new system;

· How new arrangements for education and training can support the modernisation process;

· How advice from across a range of healthcare professions can improve patient care.

6,000 responses in the proper consultation period, 700-odd amendments to the bill (pretty well all sidelined), an excoriating Select Committee Report mean nothing. We will now add; two months worth of public money for a fruitless exercise with a 'C' list of public sector celebrities and the reputation of a once impartial FT down the tubes. A million staff, all the Royal Colleges and the think tanks have said; it ain't gonna work - is anyone listening?

How can we be sure group are to be invovled in murder?

The forensic evidence is in the guts of a leaked memo sent, yesterday, from the Big Beast to senior NHS managers that highlights the 'no listening' areas:

"Today the Coalition Government will publish a document entitled 'Working Together for a Stronger NHS'. We will circulate a copy of this document as soon as it becomes available. (Don't bother we already have a copy and here it is).

It will make clear that during the listening exercise, the commitment to reform on the following remains firm and will go ahead:

· Commissioning to be led by GP consortia

· All Trusts to be Foundation Trusts

· Independent Commissioning Board to be established

· Health Watch to be established

· Increased role for Local Government in Health

· Abolishion of PCTs and SHAs

They are keen not to lose momentum, but there is recognition that during this listening phase a number of planned events cannot go ahead to the agreed timetable. Key things to be aware of include:

· PCTs still to be abolished April 2013

· SHAs still to be abolished but not until July 2012

· National Commissioning Board and new Monitor still to be established but now not until July 2012

The responses to key consultation documents such as Education and Training, Any Willing Provider which were due will not go ahead in this listening period.

National senior appointments such as the Chair of the National Commissioning Board and CE of NTDA will now not go ahead until after this period."

That's what you call listening!

The principle character, Renko, in Gorky Park was thought to suffer from a fictional illness called Pathoheterodoxy Syndrome, a misguided sense of arrogance.

It was said of Renko; "You have unreal expectations, and overestimate your personal powers, You feel isolated from society and mistrust the people who most want to help you. You think you are the exception of every rule. You underestimate collective intelligence - what it is right is wrong and what is wrong right".

'Nuff said? Are you listening?

Roy Lilley

UNISON Nurses meet Labour Health spokesman after Government "pause".

2011-04-06T21:37:00.004+01:00

UNISON Nurses meet Labour Health spokesman after Government "pause".

"UNISON nurses and midwives meet with Labour Health spokesman John Healey and local Tooting MP Sadiq Khan at the House of Commons (4th April 2011) to discuss the on going campaign against the Coalition's NHS & Social Care Bill, after Conservative Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley was forced to invoke a two month pause in the passage of the Bill because of growing opposition from NHS professionals and the public.

Maureen Brown UNISON Nursing Convenor stated "The growing campaign against the NHS Bill, had forced the Government to pause, now we need to move forward with the public to ram home the overwhelming opposition to the NHS Bill and NHS privatisation".

John Healey stated the Government NHS proposals were now weighed down in "confusion, chaos and incompetence" he also referred to Andrews Lansley's ability to unite in opposition to his NHS Reforms former right wing Thatcherite Minister Norman Tebbit and rap star NxtGen, the later responsible for viral video hit Andrew Lansley NHS Rap.

Sadiq Khan MP stated "He would work tirelessly with UNISON, NHS staff and patients to defend the NHS from this vicious attack".

Kingston Midwives - Push for More Midwives

2011-04-06T20:57:00.006+01:00

UNISON midwives and nurses at Kingston Hospital, Surrey held a candlelight vigil tonight (30th March 2011) to protest at the shortage of midwives at the hospital and to oppose the loss of 500 nursing and medical posts at the hospital.

Nora Pearce UNISON Midwifery Convenor stated

" UNISON is campaigning against the national shortage of midwives. We will be campaigning with local mothers to ensure Kingston hospital gets the resources it needs to continue a high quality service to mothers"

Michael Walker UNISON London Nursing Officer states

"The national shortage of Nurses and Midwives is being exacerbated by increased attendance at A&E and higher birth rates than projected, The Government needs to act urgently to avoid a crisis"

Nurses hold candlelight vigil against Kingston Hospital cuts

By David Lindsell Surrey Comet»

Nurses and midwives took to the streets outside Kingston Hospital in a candlelight vigil against cuts.

Nurses hold candlelight vigil against hospital cuts

The hospital has announced money-saving plans to remove 486 posts over the next five years, including 214 nurses and midwives.

Helen Martin, a nurse at the hospital for more than 20 years and wife of Health Emergency campaigner Geoff Martin, said: "The fight for frontline, life-or-death services is well and truly on and we have no intention of letting the opportunistic politicians, who used our hospital for their own purposes, off the hook now our jobs are on the line."

After the vigil, on Wednesday night, public service union Unison has issued its own response to Kingston Hospital's draft business plan arguing that the approach to the cuts is flawed.

Unison midwife Nora Pearce, Julie Reay former Kingston and Richmond Health Authority chairman, and Unison representative Michael Walker were also at the vigil.

Nurses hold candlelight vigil against hospital cuts

Staff at Kingston Hospital were joined by singer Billy Bragg when they joined last Saturday’s march through London against coalition cuts.

Andrew Lansley NHS Rap - 200k Hits - Now Nurses Anthem

2011-04-03T01:00:00.007+01:00

Today's Observer has a story about the much loved anthem of NHS nurses, medics and staff, who are sick of the ill conceived NHS privatisation agenda of the Tory led Coalition.

The campaign against the dismantling of the NHS has got Tories and LibDems running scared and so they should. Focus groups used by the Governmnet show overwhelming opposition to the plans and NHS privatisation is now becoming a major issue in the run up to the May 5th local elections.

UNISON members will be proud to see NxtGen was helped by UNISON to get his much loved NHS rap out.

Nora Pearce UNISON Nursing convenor at Kingston hospital stated "The popularity of the song amongst NHS staff was a credit to NxtGen and UNISON alike - Its just what we needed"

The Andrew Lansley rap has been viewed by over 200,000 people on You Tube, while a copy by medical out side the Department of Health during the 26th March demonstration has another 4,000

Andrew Lansley NHS rap becomes a viral hit

Recording of YouTube sensation by singing binman and doctors' cult hero MC NxtGen was funded by Unison

Donnelly" width="460" height="276">

Sean Donnelly has now been asked to rap about the royal wedding. Photograph: Fabio De Paola

His musical attack on Andrew Lansley's plans for the NHS has become a viral sensation on the web. But the story behind the rise of Sean Donnelly, aka MC NxtGen, to the status of cult hero among the nation's surgeons, doctors and nurses has remained something of a mystery.

Now the Observer can reveal that the 22-year-old singer was given his helping hand by the health workers' union, Unison. Donnelly and his girlfriend, an occupational therapist and member of the union, contacted officials with the idea three weeks ago.

The union insists that the words to the track are those of Donnelly, who is a binman by day, but admit that they were so impressed by his lyrics that they funded the recording and a film clip.

The result has capitalised on strong opposition to the government's proposed reforms, with David Cameron expected to announce a delay this week in the publication of the health and social care bill until after local elections on 5 May. The prime minister is said to be increasingly worried about public opinion against change, demonstrated by the popularity of Donnelly's rap.

By yesterday, a week since his clip was posted on YouTube, it had received 200,000 hits. Donnelly, from Loughborough, has now been contacted by BBC3 to feature on a forthcoming programme, and Channel 4 has asked him to write a rap on the subject of the royal wedding. "It has been a hectic week," said Donnelly. "I have got a few TV meetings lined up for next week – it's good, really good. I did the rap first and then thought Unison might be able to back me up so I got my girlfriend to put it through to them and they really liked it and got me the place to film it. It took about a day and a half. I don't think it cost much because Tom the video guy doesn't charge much.

"I did the lyrics myself, went on the internet, did some research and put it together like a jigsaw and made it funny. And it has just spread."

Filmed in Ash Field school, a special school for the physically disabled in Leicester, and eschewing the traditional hiphop themes of bling, booty and babes, Donnelly's three-minute rap about the Department of Health's white paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, is personally dedicated to the secretary of state for health.

"Andrew Lansley, greedy, Andrew Lansley, tosser," runs the rap, over a sample taken from the Animals' House of the Rising Sun. "The NHS is not for sale, you grey-haired manky codger!"

But if Donnelly is far from polite, he has certainly done his research. "So the budget of the PCTs, he wants to hand to the GPs/ Oh please. Dumb geeks are gonna buy from any willing provider,/ Get care from private companies."

Later, he adds: "We'll become more like the US/ and care will be farmed out to private companies,/ who will sell their service to the NHS via the GPs/ who will have more to do with service purchase arrangements than anything to do with seeing their patients." He is now trying to release the track on iTunes.

Lansley was moved to comment. "We will never privatise the National Health Service," he said. "But I'm impressed that he's managed to get lyrics about GP commissioning into a rap ."

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said: "We want to use every means to let people know about the damage it will cause to the NHS.

UNISON - OUR NHS IS NOT FOR SALE

2011-04-01T19:58:00.001+01:00

Estate Agents Cameron, Clegg & Lansley, held a viewing of prime residential property - St Thomas’ Hospital in London today (1 April 2011). UNISON, the UK’s largest union, organised the spoof sell off to expose the huge dangers lurking in the Tory’s Health and Social Care Bill.

The union is warning that Lansley’s vanity project poses a health risk to patients, to the NHS and to the nurses, midwives, hospital porters and medical secretaries who keep our health service running.

Paste in front of the first paragraph:

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:

“Selling off the NHS is no joke – but that’s exactly what’s the Health and Social Care Bill paves the way for. Even the Tories are waking up to the toxic prescription that the Health and Social Care Bill really is for our NHS.

“Handing over £80 billion to GPs is a reckless gamble. Doctors don’t want it, and it will poison the relationship between patients and their GP. Who wants to be sitting across from their doctor wondering if the treatment they are prescribed is what they need, or what the GP can afford to pay for?

“And taking the private income cap off hospitals when they are being hit with cuts is a recipe for disaster. Patients who can pay will be the top priority. NHS patients will be pushed to the back of the queue – eroding the core principles our NHS was founded on.

“It’s time to take the Health and Social Care Bill to the mortuary - where it belongs.”

The hospital sell off stunt is part of a nationwide day of action against the Health Bill, and ahead of the union’s annual health conference. Taking part in Liverpool, the health conference brings together 1200 delegates, representing UNISON’s 460,000 health workers.

UNISON’s big opposition to the titanic Health and Social Care Bill

* Big cuts in health spending. These are being taken from patient care and leading to job losses – including clinical staff – across the NHS.

* Opening up the NHS to private profit. Taxpayers’ money destined for NHS patients will be diverted into shareholder profits.

* NHS patients will be pushed to the back of the queue because the proposed Bill will take the cap off the amount hospitals can earn from private patients.

* It means competition, not co-operation. The government wants to run the NHS through competition between different health providers and market forces.

* It will create a huge postcode lottery. The care patients can expect will vary from place to place, increasing costs and health inequalities and hurting vulnerable people the most. No-one voted for this.

* The NHS is working and public satisfaction with the NHS is at an all time high. If it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Lansley Rap - Dept of Health - 26th March Version

2011-03-28T20:22:00.002+01:00

26th March TUC Demo

2011-03-28T10:23:00.022+01:00

Click on photo to enlarge

Greedy Andrew Lansley Rap

2011-03-23T23:25:00.002Z

Loughborough Rapper Fighting For NHS

A young rapper from Loughborough has put the controversial subject of NHS reforms into the lyrics of his latest video.

Sean Donnelly is a binman by day but his real passion takes over when he performs as Nxtgen. His girlfriend works as an Occupational Therapist and he was inspired to write it about Andrew Lansley MP for South Cambridgeshire and Secretary of State for Health, after she voiced concerns about the NHS’s future.

The coalition Government’s proposed reforms to the NHS could lead to a US-style system and many believe this will result in the NHS changing beyond recognition.

Sean’s continued rise in the rap world was reported on recently by the Mercury’s website and this latest production is bound to create mixed views from those on both sides of the political divide.

The young reporters of the Leicester Wave newspaper are looking to interview Sean in a forthcoming issue about his career and also the ‘Andrew Lansley Rap“.

More from Leicesters Citizen Eye...

New Ed Hall Union Banner To Be Unveiled Saturday 26th March TUC Demo

2011-03-22T18:52:00.015Z

South West London Mental Health Branch
UNISON Banner

Members and officers of South West London & St Georges Mental Health Trust branch of the health care Union - UNISON, will have the pleasure of unveiling their new UNISON branch banner at the TUC Demonstration in London on Saturday 26th March 2011.

The artists who created the banner, was famous London trade union banner maker Ed Hall, responsible for hundreds of beautiful trade union banners.

Michael Walker UNISON Regional Officer who was responsible for the design describes the relevance of the iconography on the banner.

The colours used in the banner are those of UNISON of purple, green and white and are in turn based upon the WSPU suffragette colours. (chosen in 1908 by Emmeline Pethick Lawrence).

Nursing staff and Asylum attendants in period uniforms of 1910, hold up the banner and is taken from a graphic used on the front of the National Asylum Workers Union journal in its earliest years.

The logo's and slogan "All For One and One For All" at the bottom of the banner are from the original National Asylum Workers Union est 1910.

In the centre of the banner is the main building at Springfield hospital built in 1840. Surrey County Lunatic Asylum (later known as Wandsworth Asylum) opened on 14th June 1841, catering for 350 bed. Note the red flag flying from its rooftop.

At the bottom of the banner, left side - the cat represents Syndicalism and at the bottom right side a Rat (the bosses - as used on the Friern Barnet banner).

Bankers' Taunt Nurses - Now Tories Freeze Nurses Pay

2011-03-21T18:13:00.012Z

Deutsche Bank taunts NHS rally" title="What a Banker!!!!! A member of staff at Deutsche Bank taunts NHS rally" border="0">

Deutsche Bankers taunt low paid nurses last week

MONDAY 21 MARCH 2011
ANOTHER BITTER BLOW FOR NHS WORKERS
AS PAY FREEZE GRIPS TIGHTER

UNISON, the UK¹s largest union, today reacted angrily to news that the Government is freezing pay for all NHS workers, except those earning below £21,000, calling it ³a bitter blow² for hardworking staff including nurses, paramedics and therapists.

The union dismissed the £250 for those earning under £21,000 such as cleaners, healthcare assistants, cooks, porters and switchboard staff as a totally inadequate token gesture. The increase is below inflation and with the cost of everyday essentials rising, it will be wiped out very quickly.

UNISON is holding its health conference next month in Liverpool where it is widely expected that delegates will vote to reject attempts to reduce pay, as well as pledging to fight back to preserve jobs and services.

The NHS Pay Review Body was hide-bound by the Government¹s pay freeze diktat
across the public sector and the union warned that staff are already angry over Government interference with the independence of the PRB and today's decision will rile health workers further.

To add to health workers¹ problems the pay freeze comes hard on the heels of increased pensions¹ contributions in the recent Hutton report.

Mike Jackson, Senior National Officer for Health, said:

³The Government¹s decision to freeze pay is another bitter blow for hard-working NHS staff.

³The squeeze on NHS finance is already placing a heavy burden on health workers. They see jobs being cut, operations cancelled or delayed and patients suffering as a result.

³It is completely unjust for the Government to make nurses, paramedics, therapists and skilled NHS staff the fall-guys for the financial crisis brought down on the country by the bankers.

³The £250 is a totally inadequate token gesture designed to salve the conscience of coalition MPs. They know that health workers did not cause the crisis, that inflation is going up and that families, already struggling with mounting debts and rising inflation, will suffer because of their decision today.

³I expect widespread anger over pay at UNISON¹s Health Conference next month. The job cuts, cancelled operations and longer waiting times are deeply distressing for health workers and the pay freeze is likely to be the final straw.²

Ends

Notes to Editors

This is the 4th year out of 5 that health workers have had a below inflation
pay award.

RPI rates (March) Pay uplift (April)
2005/6 3.2% 3.225
2006/7 2.4% 2.5% (but only worth 1.9% in England due
to staging)
2007/8 4.8% 2.5%
2008/9 3.8% 2.75%
2009/10 -0.4% 2.4%
2010/11 4.4% 2.25%
2011/12 5.1% (Feb) 0% (1.8% - 1.2% for those below £21K)

Total 23.3% 15.625%

In real terms NHS pay has now fallen back to pre 2005 levels.

Staff now facing NI increase of 1%

Pensions increase of at least 3% 2012-14

Further pay freeze in 2012.

The Coalition of millionaires reward greedy bankers and cut the pay of nurses.

Ambulance Dispute - Hillingdon 1989-1990

2011-03-20T19:27:00.013Z

Ambulance Dispute 1989-1990

Ambulance workers enjoyed unprecedented levels of public support during the six-month dispute as opinion polls found more than four out of five people consistently backed the unions.

Successive Gallup polls for the Daily Telegraph found even a majority of Conserative voters felt Health Secretary Kenneth Clarke should come up with more cash as he took the brunt of the blame for the disruption to patient services.

Electors said they would even be prepared to pay a little more income tax to fund a deal, while other health service staff, including nurses, disclosed that they would not demand an equal pay rise if ambulance crews and control room staff were awarded more than the going rate.

Such sympathy was evident daily by the millions of pounds that filled the buckets
thrust forward by the ubiquitous, fluorescent-jacketed ambulance staff that became as much a part of shopping centres as Boots and McDonalds.

TUC General Secretary Norman Willis told how would-be queue-jumpers were ordered to the back of the line while he waited patiently to add his name (no doubt again) to the record-breaking petition.

All good stuff for the unions but, of course, it was never ordained to be so, as prevous disputes involving NHS workers in the 1970s and early 1980s demonstrated.

This time round the five unions involved COHSE, NUPE, TGWU, NALGO and GMB — paved the way for their own success by breaking new ground with a slick public relations campaign that went further than any previously used by a workforce during a dispute.

The initiative was seized with a strategy that had its effect on the wider world of statements and actions worked out, instead of merely addressing the troops, and realised the importance of newspaper, radio and TV in getting a message across.

Once a groundswell of public opinion had been generated, every opportunity was taken to portray the crews and not the Government as the patient's friend and to hammer home a simple message.

Initiatives were repeatedly launched to make the running rather than merely provide reaction which, by staying one step ahead, often wrong-footed the Government and kept the Departmental of Health on the defensive for much of the time.

Frequent press conferences, a national demonstration, the petition, a quarter-hour of action and even a hunger strike kept the dispute in the public eye when it might have been forgotten.

The unity displayed by the five unions and the absence of what for the NHS used to be traditional in-fighting, rivalry and factionalism allowed a united front to be displayed which forced journalists to look towards the Government for splits and divisions.

In that vein, tasks were allocated to avoid repetition and confusion. NUPE's Roger Poole, the chief negotiator, became the public voice and was constantly in the media, modelling a new hair cut and a businessman's suit to look as well as sound the part.

Meanwhile, COHSE's Bob Abberley beavered away behind the scenes in Parliament to put crucial political pressure on Ministers which was as important.

Several years ago everyone would have been clamouring to appear on TV as they jockeyed for status and, no doubt, future members. Now a trio of those involved, COHSE, NUPE and NALGO, could end up merging — partly as a result of the demonstration that they can work together.

The two immediate goals of the dispute

— a substantial pay rise and new pay machinery — were constantly pressed home in simple, relevant terms by the unions, while other issues such as local bargaining and privatisation which the public would either not understand or have less sympathy with were left in the background.

Opinion polls showed that the ambulance worker-supporting public did not know what the Government's offer was or how the pay mechanism demanded would work. But what they did believe was that crews were worth more, and the new system would just about rule out future industrial action.

The employers, on the other hand, varied their official spokesman between Kenneth Clarke, NHS chief executive Duncan Nichol, and David Rennie, who chairs the employers' side on the Whitley Council negotiating body, with the result that apparent differences of opinion were interpreted as splits.

In many respects the unions' public relations campaign set a model for others to follow and established standards by which they will be judged in the future.

The strategy was not entirely new, although the effective use of the latest communications technology which meant Poole and Abberley could always be reached for an instant quote did break new ground.

After all. National Union of Railwaymen General Secretary Jimmy Knapp
projected himself very successfully last summer as the passengers' friend in the confrontation with BR over pay and bargaining rights by hammering home a simple message and making it relevant to the wider travelling public rather than limiting the dispute to the interests of his members.

And the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions hired a PR firm with close links to the labour movement to get their message across in the shorter working week campaign.

But the five national negotiators, dubbed the "famous five" for the way they often appeared together and even started wearing matching overcoats, took PR a significant step further.

The dispute was right for the tactics. Ambulance workers had a reasonable it not a good case and have a high public profile because of the life-and-death nature of the job. The timing of the dispute was also right in that the polls had already started to move against the Government, which the unions were able to capitalise on.

Flashing blue lights and 999 sirens provided excellent TV pictures in particular and the service has something of a glamorous image for outsiders.

Further, crews used to dealing with the public in high-pressure situations adapted
well to the glare of TV lights and, judging by the number of local stunts launched,
actually liked the media attention.

Running a similar campaign on behalf of other low-paid groups such as ancillary workers — however deserving — will not be as easy. But the lessons are there and should be learnt.

Splits and in-fighting in the union camp would have been reported. Violent picketing and clashes with the police would have made attention-grabbing TV pictures. Disputes will be covered in the form they occur. It's up to the unions how they want to run their campaigns, but if it's public opinion they want on their side, they could do worse than copy the ambulance workers.

Kevin Maguire is the Daily Telegraph labour correspondent.

He writes here in a personal capacity.

COHSE Journal May 1990

NOTES

In my experience, this was undoubtedly one of the best led strikes in the NHS, the ability to use the media and the discipline of local Ambulance union reps and members was key to winning and maintaining public support.

The hub of the dispute was undoubtedly London and West London in particular most notably Park Royal, Feltham, Twickenham and Hillingdon ambulance stations.

Crews in Birmingham, Merseyside and Dorset were also very strong

The tactic of slowly increasing pressure on employer (overtime bans, emergencies only etc) forced the management in frustration to effectively “lock out” ambulance staff by refusing to send any calls to these stations and bring in the Army.

The Crews responded by occupying the ambulance stations as they did at Hillingdon, the management being forced to issue injunctions, but with little effect.

Elsewhere, in the country, Ambulance management in many areas did not follow London’s tactics and the crews remained at work, allowing them to secure even more support and money for those “locked out”.

Nine weeks into the dispute the Health Service Journal reported that an estimated 27 out of 44 ambulance services were operating a 999 only service.

Kenneth Clarke’s remarks that ambulance workers were little more than “professional drivers” totally incensed the crews.

On January l3th 1990 75,000 attended a TUC national demonstration in support of the ambulance workers and on 30^th January a day of solidarity, when South London bus drivers came out on strike.

While the dispute was not a total success, the public was confident the unions had rightly won and gave a big fillip of confidence to NHS trade unionists.

Roger Poole was an excellent public speaker and with a CP background understood the need to keep both the public and the members on side. Bob Abberley became know as “Rogers bag carrier” and Jeanette Roe COHSE Regional Officer did Stirling work with Pete Marshall COHSE Regional Secretary in galvanising COHSE members in London.

As the ambulance service had been initially part of Local Government( London County Council) most staff in London were members of NUPE 70-80%. However COHSE had from 1964 built up a small but significant membership based around the leadership of Bill Dunn at Hanwell, West London (The other key COHSE branch being at Park Royal)

The Ambulance dispute started October 1989 – March 1990 and lasted six months

The Great Ambulance petition secured 4.5 million signatures

Pictures of the Ambulance dispute in Hillingdon (Marion Way NUPE Ambulance Steward) in Uxbridge town centre collectining signaturers, on the front line at Hillingdon ambulance station, lastly army ambulance at Hillingdon Hospital

The Ambulance Strike 1989-1990

In November 1989 Ambulance crews at Hillingdon, Heathrow and Pinner were suspended during the Ambulance pay dispute of 1989-1990.

They had refused to cover non-emergency calls as did 68 other London stations

All were suspended and police and army were brought in to cover both emergency and non-emergency

However, suspended ambulance crews continued to provide an emergency service with a dedicated phone line/ Including a plea from staff at mount Vernon to take a severely injured car crash victim to Charring Cross Hospital.

The first local Army ambulance was used in Pinner on November 13th

The staff maintained a vigil at Hillingdon Ambulance station as well as collecting signatures in Uxbridge town centre.

The Ambulance staff had huge public support and the campaign was well run by union leader Roger Poole of NUPE. The success of which helped in securing at least a partial victory on pay and a rare defeat for the Conservatives

Local Stewards
Marion Way (NUPE)
John Drewery (COHSE)

COHSE Homewood Trust Deal 1992

2011-03-20T19:24:00.001Z

COHSE Homewood Trust Deal 1992

COHSE has signed an agreement designed to reduce the need for strikes with an opted-out trust. The deal with Homewood Trust In Chertsey, Surrey, covers 1,000 employees and provides for binding pendulum arbitration in the event of disagreement.

Under this system, an independent arbitrator, appointed by ACAS, is obliged to decide either In favour of the management or the staff side In a dispute. This Is Instead of attempting to find a midway point. The arbitrator's decision Is binding on both sides.

The agreement has been dubbed a "no strike deal" by the media. In fact. It helps avoid the need for strikes but does not rule them out completely. It the management refuses to follow the procedure to resolve an issue or to accept an arbitration award, Industrial action can be taken, as long as It is within the law and subject to certain guidelines to protect patients.

The deal follows lengthy negotiations aimed at ending a dispute over the trust's attempts to introduce new contracts. Homewood, which runs hospital and community services for people who have a mental Illness or learning difficulties, has now recognised the right of the eight unions which have members employed by the trust to bargain on behalf of new staff.

A bargaining forum to negotiate pay and conditions is being set up under the agreement, with four union and four management seats. COHSE, as the chair of the local staff side, will be represented.

Both sides have also committed themselves to working towards a minimum wage and looking at common conditions for all staff and performance-related pay. Details of how these commitments will be put Into practice have yet to be negotiated.

Local union representatives have welcomed the deal as a positive move away from the trust's previous attitude. "Having won recognition Is a great victory for the unions," said Robbie Marmion, the local branch chair.

A copy of the agreement can be obtained by ringing COHSE's communications department.

COHSE Bulletin April 1992

MORE INFORMATION

This was a unique agreement based on "pendulum arbitration" a form of industrial relations commonly discussed in the early nineteen nineties.

While the agreement was widely condemned, primarily because it was favoured by the then right wing leadership of the Engineering (AEUW) Unions and Electricians Union (EEPTU).

However, this version was much more pragmatic and also delivered a single pay spine and ultimately a pay rise above that obtained in other NHS Trusts much to the consternation of the Tories.

Despite attempts to characterise the agreement as a no strike agreement, the agreement did not preclude that action should agreement not be reached.

Two key players in this agreement was Roy Lilley Chairman of the Trust (and then a Conservative Councillor) and Tim Carter COHSE Branch Secretary.

COHSE would go on to embrace local pay bargaining not as a threat but as an opportunity to build health trade union organisation.

COHSE is now part of UNISON

Save Our Blood Service

2011-03-15T16:04:00.004Z

UNISON Reps from across the South East including Isle of Wight handed in a letter to the TUC Trades Union Congress in London urging them to join the campaign to oppose the threat to privatise the NHS Blood Service and pledging support for the TUC demonstration in London on Saturday 26th March

Debbie Jones UNISON South East Blood Service Convenor stated

"We are fully committed to maintaining the blood collection service on the Isle of Wight and a delegation from the Isle of Wight blood collection team will be attending the demonstration on Saturday March 26th in London we hope many of our blood donors will join us".

Michael Walker UNISON Regional Officer states

"UNISON nurses and donor carers will fight any attempt to privatise the NHS Blood Service and we urge the public to support our campaign in the coming months".

Tories Attempt To Privatise Blood

UNISON press release: Karen Jennings, UNISON Head of Health:

“What is this Government thinking of, is nothing safe? The blood service is world class and doesn’t need interfering with.

It epitomises how successfully volunteers and the public sector can work together, free from contamination by the profit motive. It is a service people are proud to work in and you cannot put a price on giving blood to save lives.

“We know from all the evidence that fragmenting services, outsourcing and the contracting out damages that ethos and more importantly damages the smooth running of the service.

“How can Cameron and Lansley claim that the NHS is safe in their hands, when they are planning to literally drain its lifeblood.”

Michael Walker UNISON Regional Officer states

"Blood Service Collection teams are fully committed to an NHS run blood service, so are the donor's who donate their blood, any attempt to privatise the service will be meet with a tidal wave of opposition from staff and donors. The Government should be under no illusion that we will fight any attempt to introduce profit making into the blood service, We have fought similar proposals from previous Conservative Governments, including the use of direct action and the staff will not hesitate to do so again"

" DH looks to private sector to save money on blood service
16 February, 2011 | By Sarah Calkin
The Department of Health is considering outsourcing key elements of the NHS blood service to the private sector. HSJ has learned the DH’s commercial directorate has held talks with private providers about running parts of the NHS Blood and Transplant service. It is not known which companies the department has already spoken to, but HSJ understands NHS Supply Chain, which is operated by logistics firm DHL has been invited in for discussions, as has Capita.

A senior source told HSJ the commercial directorate were “market testing the blood transfusion service” and “bringing people in to see how they would do it better”. NHS Blood and Transplant survived the cull of arms length bodies in July but a second review was announced to look at how the service could become more “commercially effective” and identify functions which could be contracted out.

HSJ has been told the DH is considering outsourcing blood distribution and storage but keeping its collection in the NHS. A DH spokeswoman confirmed the department was reviewing the future of the service. She said: “It is important to recognise that NHSBT already outsources some of its support functions. The current review is at the early stages.

“During the review, we will be considering the experience and skills that exist in the private sector to identify opportunities for making NHSBT more commercially effective. “We are not considering any functions that could risk destabilising the current national donor system, particularly the interface with donors. Where functions are being reviewed, ministers will be fully consulted before making any recommendations.”

Bankers Taunt Nurses

2011-03-13T12:32:00.002Z

Banker suspended after Sunday Mirror challenges Deutsche Bank over £10 taunt to nurses and doctors

by Nick Owens, Sunday Mirror 13/03/2011

A bonus-happy banker taunts nurses and doctors marching below by waving a £10 note...

Mistaking medics chanting “Save Our NHS” and “No More Cuts” for an unemployed mob, he sneeringly mouths: “Get a job.” A laughing friend shares his sick joke.

Last night the smirk was wiped off the banker’s face after the Sunday Mirror showed the picture to German giant Deutsche Bank in London.

Bosses at the firm where investment bankers are on a basic of £350,000 – plus bonuses averaging £54,000 – immediately suspended him.

Angry Dr Ron Singer, chairman of the Medical Practitioners’ Union, who was on the NHS Day X march on Tuesday, said: “It was shocking to see people acting in this way when we passed the bank.

“If it wasn’t for the greed of bankers the economy wouldn’t be in such a mess and there’s a good chance the NHS wouldn’t have to be making devastating cuts.

“We were marching for the rights of ordinary people. To be abused like this was sickening.”

Nurse Sonia Thomas added: “When I saw what they were doing – waving money at us – it left me so angry. They clearly have no idea of the problems faced by people in the real world.” The banker’s antics came in the week it emerged that taxpayer-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland is paying boss Stephen Hester £7.7million for last year, even though it made a loss.

And Parliament heard disgraced former boss of RBS Fred Goodwin has a super-injunction preventing publication of a story about him.

Barclays chief Bob Diamond will get £27million for last year, with his 231 earners getting an average of £2.4million each.

The 1,000-strong march was staged to protest against David Cameron’s plans – never mentioned in the Tory manifesto last year – to tear up the structure of the NHS to bring in more private enterprise.The protest passed Deutsche Bank’s City base en route to world-famous St Bart’s hospital.

The bank’s chief executive Josef Ackermann, paid £8million in 2009, has been a staunch defender of bank salaries.

His firm fought a long battle with the Inland Revenue to try and avoid its staff having to pay tax on bonuses.

The bank said: “These photos appear to show conduct that is unacceptable and unrepresentative of our bank.

“We have suspended the individual involved and will hold him accountable for his actions.”

nick.owens@sundaymirror.co.uk

Fallon Tory Vice Chair Lies on the NHS Cuts

2011-02-24T19:58:00.005Z

50,000 NHS jobs could be axed

Michael Fallon MP (Sevenoaks) Conservative Vice chairman has insisted there will be “more frontline staff” in the NHS, stressing that figures from anti-cuts campaigners which suggest 50,000 jobs could go were inaccurate.

He called the figures released by campaign group False Economy as "shameless and deeply irresponsible scaremongering of the worst kind."

So here we have it the Conservative Vice Chairman has stated the NHS will have more nurses and doctors -

But given GP Consortium's plan to reduce commissioning in their local hospitals, coupled with the failure to meet the Tories pledge of 6,000 extra midwives, extra health visitors and cuts in nurse training. This is simply just another Tory lie

Will Fallon resign when hes caught lying ?

Conservative, Zak Goldsmith MP (Richmond) stated he would resign if cuts at his local Kingston hospital went ahead, but he now claims the 250 nurses who will lose their jobs are not cuts, they are efficiency savings so he wont be resigning

George Orwell couldn't have written a better excuse.

You cannot trust the Tories on the NHS

Miliband - Now Fight To Save OUR NHS

2011-02-20T19:58:00.003Z

Ed Davey - spot the difference on NHS cuts

2011-02-18T22:20:00.002Z

Ed Davey - spot the difference on NHS cuts

"Stop the NHS Cuts" says Government Minister. That was then in 2008. Now, Ed Davey has shamefully endorsed the proposed savage cuts in jobs and wards at Kingston Hospital. The difference is that now he is in government. Wrong kind of cuts...

“When a Minister describes a 10% penalty charge as a “Secretary of State allocation adjustment”, it’s clear we’ve entered a 1984 Big Brother world of “Newspeak”. Labour are simply desperate to avoid the word “cuts”, in case it seems as if we are going back to the bad old Tory days.“The truth is, these are damaging cuts to Kingston’s NHS, and they come from Whitehall. I hope local people will back my campaign to stop the NHS cuts.”

28 November 2008

The question is will local people back Ed Davey?

STOP PRESS.......

17th February 2011

486 Jobs axed at Kingston Hospital (214 Nurses)

Minister Ed Davey's response to the local Surrey Comet

18th February 2011

the cuts were different to those he campaigned against before the general election.

He said: "When the future of accident and emergency and maternity were in question the rationale for that was the desire to deliver savings by closing services.

"The rationale for a five year programme of efficiency in Kingston and other hospital trusts is to make savings to keep services open whilst also improving quality.

He said the cuts confirmed yesterday were totally different to the cuts threatened under the shelved South West London Review, which he campaigned against before his re-election and elevation to a ministerial post.

He said: "I'm not going to pretend this isn't a challenge, these plans caused me to ask detailed questions, but I actually have real confidence in the management."

St George's Hospital Cuts 500 Posts

2011-02-18T09:02:00.008Z

THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2011

St GEORGE'S HOSPITAL, SOUTH LONDON

SHOCK NEWS FOR PATIENTS AND STAFF AS GOVERNMENT SQUEEZE LEADS TO 500 MORE JOB CUTS

News  that 500 staff, including nurses and consultants at St George’s  Healthcare NHS Trust in Tooting, are to lose their jobs, is a terrible  shock to staff and patients, said UNISON, the UK’s largest union today.  

The  Government squeeze on NHS finances and demands for £20bn in so-called  ‘efficiency savings’, is forcing the Trust into making serious  cuts in order to save £50m.

The cuts will lead to at least three wards  closing with the loss of roughly 100 beds. The Trust is also capping the  number of births at the hospital to 5,000 a year, e, leading to a significant gap in local maternity  services, and forcing women to travel long distances to give birth.

Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said:  “Cutting  500 jobs and closing at least three wards is a devastating blow for  staff and patients at St George’s . The shock waves will be felt in  hospitals across London and beyond.    “This announcement is more  proof that the NHS is not safe in Cameron and Lansley’s hands and is  reminiscent of Thatcher’s devastating  reforms during the 80s and 90s.

Only 2 weeks ago, Barts and the Royal London ‚  announced 630 job losses, including 250 nurses and 100 beds cut. Sadly  we are going to hear a steady feed of these cuts with the loss of  valuable staff, beds and services in communities right across the  country.  “These job losses are collateral damage to a Government  intent on pushing through the Health and Social Care Bill.

The reality  is it is wrecking NHS workers’ lives and careers, and endangering the  patients they treat.”   Nurse Jane Pilgrim, UNISON Nursing Convenor at St George’s Hospital said:  “This  is a sad day for staff at St George’s .

We were told by the Government  that there would be no cuts in frontline posts but in reality the NHS is  witnessing swingeing  cuts to frontline services every day”.    The Trust is one of the  largest healthcare providers in south west London . St George’s  Hospital in Tooting is one of the country’s principal teaching  hospitals.

The union is warning that the loss of so many jobs will have  serious consequences not only on the local community and London , but on  patients across the south east. The Trust provides treatment for  specialities such as bone marrow transplants, complex pelvic trauma and  HIV care across a wide geographical area.

UNISON will be seeking further meetings with the Trust to try to minimise the job losses and protect patients.
Michael Walker, UNISON Regional Officer,  states

"In a week when the bankers are set to receive huge pay rises and multi million pound bonuses, we are going to witness the spectre at St George's of dedicated nurses, doctors and health staff losing their jobs.  How can that be fair or right?"

Nurse Geoff Thorne UNISON at St Georges Hospital states:

"We were told by the Government that there would be no cuts in frontline posts but in reality the NHS is witnessing swingeing cuts to frontline services every day".

Geoff Thorne, UNISON St George's Branch Secretary stated:

"Before the General Election Andrew Lansley visited St Georges Hospital and gave a personal guarantee to staff that there would be no frontline  cuts in the NHS"

Nora Pearce UNISON Midwifery Convenor states:

"Capping the number of births at St George's to just 5,000 a year will mean thousands of local women will no-longer be able to have their babies at St George's, denying them the back up and confidence they know comes from having a baby at an internationally renowned teaching hospital.

Michael Walker, UNISON Regional Officer stated:

"UNISON will be working with St George's Hospital management to mitigate the impact of these cuts on patients and staff.  Mr Lansley needs to urgently recognise the damage he is causing to the NHS with these unprecedented levels of cuts".

"We fear these cuts are just the prelude to even greater cuts in our NHS when the  Government unleash GP Commissioning and GP's are forced to ration care

"We urge all local Member's of Parliament, of all political persuasion’s to intercede and urge Andrew Lansley the Conservative Secretary of State for Health to halt these disastrous cuts at St George's before patient care suffers.

Kingston Hospital Cuts 214 Nursing Posts

2011-02-18T08:46:00.006Z

KINGSTON HOSPITAL JOBS CUTS – 20% STAFF AXED

UNISON RESPONSE
THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2011

Commenting on the news that Kingston Hospital NHS Trust is set to cut 486 posts over five years, including 214 nurses and 20 medical staff - 20% of the total workforce,

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:

“This is a terrible day for patients in London, who have found out they stand to lose nearly 1000 health workers.

This nails the lie that the frontline will be protected, more than 200 nurses at Kingston Hospital will lose their jobs. “Tory claims to be the party of the NHS are nothing but a sham – how is this hospital supposed to keep on running with 20% fewer staff? “The job cuts at Kingston are a direct result of Lansley’s plans to hand over funding to GPs, so this deeply worrying pattern of hospital job cuts will be repeated across the country.

It’s time for the Tories to put the breaks on the reforms, and start thinking about patients.”

Nora Pearce, UNISON rep at Kingston Hospital, said:
“This is terrible news for staff and for people living in Kingston. All through the election we were told that the health service would not suffer frontline cuts – but now my hospital is set to lose more than 200 nurses.

This government is ripping the heart out of the NHS. “Ed Davey MP, and Nick Clegg both used the hospital as a backdrop during their election campaigns, but where are they now when we need their support?”

Michael Walker UNISON Regional Officer; Said:
"We will not hesitate to fight every cut to the NHS in Kingston, we look forward to working with local MP's and Councillors to oppose cuts, NHS cuts, that when they were in opposition they wholeheartedly opposed"

Irish Student Nurses Fighting Back !

2011-02-18T06:18:00.004Z

Student nurses warn of cut backlash

By: MARTIN WALL, Industry correspondent
February 16, 2011

The Irish Times

Over 3,000 student nurses and midwifes have taken part in a rally at the Department of Health in Dublin today in protest at Government plans to

phase-out and ultimately eliminate payments for their mandatory 36-week placement in hospitals.

Siptu nursing official Louise O'Reilly said that nurses would punish those who made the decision to introduce the cuts in the forthcoming general election.

Liam Dolan from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation urged student nurses to tell their TDs that they would not vote for them if they did not pledge to reverse the cuts.

Mr Dolan said that the unions would meet with Fian na Fáil on the issue tomorrow.

Des Kavanagh of the Psychiatric Nurses Association said the decision to make the cuts was a final act of betrayal by the former minister of health Mary Harney.

He said the Opposition parties should be clear and unambiguous in their support for student nurses and that "woolly soundbites are not acceptable."

Minister for Health Mary Coughlan last week has asked the secretary-general of her department to carry out a review of the decision to abolish student nurse payments from 2015.

It is understood the review will focus only on the plan to abolish completely the payments from 2015 and plans to reduce the level of payments made to student nurses and midwives over the coming years will remain in place.

The Government announced in late December that it planned to reduce and ultimately abolish payments made to fourth-year nurses and midwives in training during their mandatory 36-week placements in hospitals.

They are currently paid 80 per cent of the salary of a staff nurse during this period.

The Department of Health estimates the cuts will ultimately generated savings of €28 million.

About 3,500 student nurses and midwives took part in demonstrations at 13 hospitals around the country last Wednesday against the planned cuts as unions promised to make them a major issue in the general election.

Wednesday February 16 2011

Irish Independent

Angry student nurses have warned politicians they will be punished in the General Election unless plans to abolish their pay during ward placements are reversed.

Up to 3,000 protesters marched through Dublin and staged a rally at the Department of Health over proposals to phase out payments to fourth-year students working on wards during a nine-month internship.

Security staff padlocked the gates around Hawkins House and senior health chiefs quickly left for lunch before nurses and midwives arrived en masse to hand in a letter calling on the in-coming minister to reverse the plan.

Louise O'Reilly, Siptu's national nursing official, told noisy demonstrators the cuts were a new low for the Government.

"We will hold our politicians to account and shame those cowards who will not pledge to reverse those cuts," she said.

"We say no to slave labour and we will punish those on February 25 who try to introduce it."

Student nurses and midwives are currently paid 80pc of the salary of a staff nurse during their mandatory 36-week placements in hospitals.

Tanaiste Mary Coughlan has asked officials to carry out a review of a decision to reduce and ultimately abolish payments over the next four years.

Four-year-old Ella Dowd dressed in a nurses uniform to support her mother Tara and aunt Maria, both from Swords, north Dublin.

Tara, a second-year psychiatric nursing student at Trinity College, fears she could be forced to leave her course if her pay is cut in her final year.

The 26-year-old lone parent already studies, has placements in St Patrick's Hospital, works weekends for an agency and cares for her daughter.

"This would make a huge difference. I'd probably end up dropping out because I couldn't afford to run my home, Ella's creche and a childminder for weekends," she said.

Maria, 20, a third-year psychiatric nursing student, added: "Next year I will have my own patients and will be administering their medications.

"That is a huge responsibility for anyone to have. Intern doctors will still get paid, why are intern nurses getting cut?"

Union leaders from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA), and Siptu are holding talks with members of each political party, including Fianna Fail, for their stance on the cuts.

INMO general secretary, Liam Doran, warned his members and their families, who wield more than 200,000 votes, will be told the reply from each party before they go to the ballot boxes.

Fourth-year pre-registration nurses and midwives will also be balloted for a withdrawal of labour in early March if they do not secure a resolution.

Tory/Lib Dems Out To Destroy OUR NHS

2011-01-31T22:58:00.005Z

UNISON nurses protested outside the House of Commons today 31st January 2011 as did nurses at St Georges Hospital Tooting, they were protesting against the Tories/Lib DemsNHS.

Not only do the Tories and Lib Dem's want to hive off large bits of the NHS to the private sector, many local District Hospitals are now under real threat of closure.

As commissioning of health services are left to the whims of General Practitioners.

For example if GPs fall out with consultants at your local hospital and they decide to switch the contract, your local hospital closes.

Any money saved in commissioning can be paid in cash to GP's as a bonus, who are already on £150k a year, so dont have an expensive illness.

GP's don't even need to declare a financial interest in a private health care company, GP decisions do not need to be taken in public, they do not have to involve or ask any patients about their views and are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

St Georges Nurses vow to Defend the NHS

2011-01-04T22:00:00.006Z

St Georges nurses vow to defend the NHS

Nursing and NHS professionals at St Georges, Tooting, South London started 2011 by taking time out at lunch time to protest at the Governments planned NHS reforms and decision to cut £10bn a year from the NHS through so called efficiency savings.

UNISON Nursing staff at St George's have signalled that they will not hesitate to speak out against Government plans for swinging cuts and privatisation of the NHS.

Michael Walker UNISON Regional Officer states

"UNISON will not sit ideally by and watch our NHS services slashed and privatised. Britain did not vote for the introduction of an American health care system, a system which is not comprehensive, bureaucratic, expensive and where increased competition not collaboration costs patients lives".

Jane Pilgrim UNISON Nursing Convenor at St George's Hospital, Tooting states

"Over one hundred nurses at St Georges Hospital have already signalled they will be joining the TUC rally to defend public services on Saturday 26th March 2011 in Central London and we are receiving incredible support from the local community".

Geoff Thorne UNISON Branch Secretary stated
"Be clear, our branch will take any action necessary to defend our members and the future of the NHS".

Tory NHS Reforms - GP's Forced to Privatise the NHS

2011-01-04T14:27:00.003Z

Even the Tories now foresee chaos in Lansley's NHS

Polly Toynbee

The Guardian

3rd January 2010

The health secretary's reforms will not bring slow and stealthy change, but a radical explosion. Cameron must sack him

In a startlingly forthright article on Comment is free last week, the new Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston challenged the fundamental principles of the coalition government's National Health Service upheaval. As a GP, she knows the significance of what is happening. Wielding a deft scalpel, she has exposed what has only been a whispered understanding within the government. She put her rubber glove on the precise mechanism by which cosy-sounding GP commissioning leads to fierce commercial competition – and privatisation.

As private companies step in to run commissioning for GPs, she warns that they may "turn to private providers at the expense of NHS providers". Some GPs are eager to run the £80bn NHS budget and become the chief rationers but, she says, "most are not". And there are good legal reasons why not.

The government has sold this as a homely notion whereby your well-respected family doctor will commission the services you need – and who better to make those decisions? It seems to make sense that those who spend the money by referring their patients should control those budgets. But as Dr Wollaston sees so clearly, there is a cancer at the heart of the plan that denies them that right.

For the first time the entire NHS has been put under competition law. The financial and clinical safety of NHS foundation trusts used to be the responsibility of the regulator, Monitor. Now its website proclaims: "The first of Monitor's three core functions is to promote competition." That means "enforcing competition law" and "removing anti-competitive behaviour". Few yet understand the nuclear nature of this. It compels every NHS activity to be privately tendered. If the NHS is the preferred provider, that can be challenged in the courts or referred to the Competition Commission. Red-in-tooth-and-claw commercial competition breaks all partnerships.

Europhobic Tory MPs take note: this makes NHS contracts subject to EU competition law. The NHS was exempt as an essentially state-run service, but GP consortiums will no longer be allowed to use a trusted local hospital without tendering first, for fear that a private company could take them to court. Some global companies will happily run loss-leader services for a while, driving NHS services to close, and no doubt raising their own prices later.

This may not be a slow and stealthy change, but an immediate and radical explosion. As I reported last month, it's happening already. Take the huge new Great Western Commissioning Consortium, amalgamating Hounslow, Hillingdon and Ealing primary care trusts – now considerably more distant from patients. GPs there have hired the US company United Healthcare to run their "referral facilitation service", taking over next month. It will guide and arm-twist, if not quite order, local GPs' referral habits. It will even step in where one hospital consultant directly refers a patient to another specialist and the PCT picks up the bill. Wollaston predicts such commercial commissioners may break old NHS ties and bring in fellow private providers; now we shall watch it happen.

The British Medical Association is alarmed. In tomorrow's British Medical Journal Dr Laurence Buckman, who chairs the BMA's GP committee, says: "I am very disappointed that people are coming to financial arrangements with commercial organisations. If you give someone a toehold, they'll take a foothold. I hope this will not be repeated elsewhere" – but he thinks that it will be.

Dr Clare Gerada, who heads the Royal College of General Practitioners, has already voiced her concern, pointing out that only a quarter of GPs are enthusiastic about a system that supposedly puts them at the helm – hardly surprising if they face lawsuits for staying with trusted NHS hospital partners. Don't assume most doctors have yet got their heads around the full implications; most tend not to bother until something impedes their everyday practice – but then they will kick up a huge fuss.

Stirrings around David Cameron suggest that some are taking a closer look at Andrew Lansley's extraordinarily radical revolution. But this stealthy road to privatisation – never spoken of in public – meets the approval of senior Tories like Francis Maude and Oliver Letwin. What suddenly worries them is impending chaos along the route – financial, organisational, clinical and political. The NHS may fall over before Lansley's £3bn reorganisation is in place.

Dissect the Great Western Commissioning Consortium with its new United Healthcare partner. Three shaky PCTs join up, ordered to cut 50% of their staff. With no less a workload, everyone reapplies for half the jobs just as GPs need more help. Hounslow has tens of millions in historic debts. Hillingdon was bailed out by £19m last year, promising to stay in budget, but is already £6m overspent this year. After heroic efforts, Ealing balances its books, but is "incredibly fragile". Like the whole NHS, they must cut 4% a year every year for three years – which the Commons select committee warns was never achieved by any health service in the world: the NHS needs a 3% budget increase to stand still. With only half the managers, they will be even less able to guard outgoings day by day.

The district prided itself on shutting a whole hospital floor, by providing better community services. But with the freeze causing bone breaks, and now the flu, all 60 beds have been re-opened, at huge cost. The cuts mean GPs here, following other areas, will soon be banned from referring anyone for non-emergency surgery until April's new financial year.

That leads to three disasters: it only shunts trust debts to next year; it passes debts this year to hospitals whose surgeons twiddle their thumbs; and waiting lists soar. That's political poison since Labour all but abolished waiting lists for the first time ever. Meanwhile patient "choice" will be carried out on a stretcher. Cameron's personal pledge that the NHS budget was "protected" will be proved false – and privatisation will be unstoppable once the Pandora's box of competition law has been opened.

Labour has a good record on the NHS: the sneers that it spent too much will cut no ice with the public if the coalition causes a meltdown. Cameron has to face a government-shaking NHS crisis – or signal a sharp U-turn with the necessary sacking of Andrew Lansley.

Saskatchewan's Struggle for Medicare

2011-01-04T14:21:00.001Z

Unsung Heroes in Saskatchewan's Struggle for Medicare

By Jim Harding

(listen to Jim’s interview on Vancouver Co-op Radio at: http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye)

Also see The Struggle for Medicare in Saskatchewan

While mainstream discourse on the struggle for Medicare tends to credit the high-profile political leaders who fronted the movement, the struggle was in fact a collective one, won through popular grassroots support and the tireless work of countless community activists. These activists, whose combined voices were the real strength of the struggle, are however left out of the history books. They are systematically ignored in Saskatchewan’s Centennial Encyclopedia.

History is typically reconstructed by those currently in power, which serves to help stabilize the status quo. The idolization of Medicare’s political champions disregards the contributions of the popular grassroots movement to Medicare’s success across the country, which is disempowering and leaves us all more inclined to wait for the next Tommy Douglas to help us make history. In view of the imperative of tackling the climate crisis and moving towards sustainability we really can’t engage in such a waiting game. Remembering the grassroots history of Medicare is also a good first step toward reengaging to rejuvenate today’s deeply troubled healthcare system.

The text book history

Tommy Douglas

The standard story of the origins of Medicare highlights the contributions of Saskatchewan premiers Tommy Douglas and Woodrow Lloyd, Minister of Public Health Bill Davies and high-profile opponents of Medicare such as Father Athol Murray and Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) president Dr. Staff Barootes. Douglas is most readily associated with Medicare, which is likely why he won CBC’s “greatest Canadian” poll a few years back. In 1944, on a radio announcement during his election campaign, he famously declared “We believe…we can ultimately give our people a completely socialized system of health services, irrespective of…individual ability to pay.” In 1947, as Minister of Health as well as Premier, he brought forward the Saskatchewan Hospitalization Act – the first public financing for hospitals in Canadian history. Then, in 1959, when the economy was stronger and federal government under John Diefenbaker more supportive Douglas announced his plan to proceed with Medicare.

This deeply aggravated the province’s doctors who at the time jealously guarded private enterprise medicine. The Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons vocally opposed the plan, and they were supported by “Keep Our Doctors” (KOD) committees, which were established among mothers who were erroneously told they would lose their personal doctors under Medicare. The only mothers who were threatened during the actual crisis were those who were expecting babies and whose pro-Medicare doctor was refused hospital privileges. One pregnant mother protested this by parking herself on the doorsteps of a hospital. The political forces whipped up recently in the U.S. to oppose Obama’s watered-down attempt to get a public option in healthcare insurance are reminiscent of the extremist rhetoric of the KOD campaign. Some people feared for Premier Lloyd’s safety. We also now know that in 1962 American medical and pharmaceutical organizations worked behind the scene to try to stop Saskatchewan from becoming a continental beachhead for Medicare.

Woodrow Lloyd/Tommy Douglas

In 1961 Douglas left Saskatchewan to head up the newly founded New Democratic Party (NDP). Premier Woodrow Lloyd picked up the gauntlet for universal health coverage, introducing and eventually passing the Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Bill, making Saskatchewan the first province to have free universal medical insurance. As Minister of Public Health, Davies helped the province to avert a potentially catastrophic doctor shortage during the Doctors’ Strike of the summer of 1962 by bringing in doctors from abroad. After the Doctor’s Strike ended, Allan Blakeney replaced Davies as Health Minister. Later Blakeney became NDP leader after Woodrow Lloyd was forced out of this position in 1970, after losing the 1964 election to Ross Thatcher and the provincial Liberals. Lloyd went on to briefly work in international development with my father Bill Harding in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) until his untimely death in 1972. In 1979 Diana Lloyd published a compelling and politically revealing biography of her father, entitled “Woodrow”.

Soon after Medicare was established, Chief Justice Emmett Hall headed a federal Commission appointed by Diefenbaker that recommended that Medicare be expanded across Canada, and in 1966 the Lester Pearson Liberal government passed the Medical Care Act which guaranteed publicly funded universal health insurance for all Canadians. The heated struggle in Saskatchewan had laid the basis for a Canada-wide plan. In 1984, under the committed leadership of the federal Health Minister, Monique Begin from Quebec, the liberal government passed the Canada Health Act to set out conditions for federal transfer payments for provincially-controlled healthcare. Medicare however continued to be threatened by the expansion of for-profit medicine.

The role of community clinics

Community clinics played a critical but often ignored role in the struggle for Medicare. While the Lloyd government was weakening, after the KOD rallied 5,000 people to the legislature on July 11, 1962 to oppose Medicare, grass-roots meetings were being held across the province to raise money to buy buildings and start community clinics that could hire doctors who supported Medicare. Thousands of people were mobilized. Doctors like Sam Wolfe and Orville Hjertaas helped establish clinics in Saskatoon and Prince Albert. British doctors were hired in Regina and elsewhere. Sam Wolfe went on to co-author the still definitive 1967 book, Doctor’s Strike: Medical Care and Conflict in Saskatchewan.

Woodrow Lloyd consistently praised the role of the community clinics in consolidating support for Medicare. Jack Kinzel, the first Secretary of the Medical Care Insurance Commission (MCIC), called the birth of the community clinics “a very important aspect of putting Medicare in place.” According to him, the “the activities of the clinics – the opening of the clinics in key centres in the province, small and large – did frighten the doctors and did make them uncertain about their ability to bring off what they were trying to do.” Speaking to Regina Community Clinic’s 1987 AGM, past Premier Allan Blakeney said that “Community clinics were on the very front line in the Medicare battle in 1962. They made Medicare possible”.

Unsung heroes

Stan Rands, who became the executive secretary of the Community Health Services Association (CHSA), is one of the unsung heroes in the development of community clinics and the launching of Medicare. Rands quit his 11-year job in Psychiatric Services, most recently as Assistant to the Director, to take on the new position in the midst of the heated conflict between doctors and government. In the Introduction to Rands book, Privilege and Policy: A History of Community Clinics in Saskatchewan, published post-humously, retired theology professor Ben Smillie wrote, “Rands, who calmly stood with [his wife] Doris in the eye of the storm, is one of the true heroes of Saskatchewan Medicare, and therefore a national hero of Canada.”

Stan worked closely with the CHSA’s founding President, Bill Harding, who had just returned from his first assignment with the UNDP to later become Provincial Secretary of the NDP and was Chairman of the Regina clinic board from 1962-65. These two men worked to the edge of exhaustion to establish clinic groups in 35 locations throughout the province. Stan and Bill also worked closely with Ed Mahood, renowned professor of Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan, who was the first chair of the board of the Saskatoon clinic, which pioneered interdisciplinary community medicine in the province; and with Roy Atkinson, known most for being president of the National Farmers Union, who was founding Vice-President of the CHSA and followed Harding as its president There were hundreds of others putting their heart and soul into this work, but Stan Rands, Bill Harding, Ed Mahood and Roy Atkinson were the peaceful “generals” in the grassroots struggle for Medicare. They kept their cool in the face of provocation that tried to polarize and escalate the conflict and derail the Medicare legislation, and put organizational voice to the broad-based grass-roots support for Medicare.

Several other citizens groups sprung up in support of Medicare. Citizens for a Free Press, founded by long-time community activists Ben and Adele Smillie, lobbied the Saskatoon Star Phoenix newspaper to stop rejecting pro-Medicare letters to the editor. Saskatoon’s Citizens in Defense of Medicare also rallied people to show their support for Medicare.

Roy Atkinson

Though Medicare is certainly the highest profile event in Saskatchewan’s first hundred years, none of the major community clinic activists are mentioned in Saskatchewan’s Centennial Encyclopedia. (A tiny piece by Denis Gruending, who in 1973 authored The First Ten Years, Saskatoon Community Clinic, mentions only the doctors involved with the birth of the clinics.) Contrast this with high-profile opponents of Medicare. One of the most vocal anti-Medicare spokespersons was Father Athol Murray who regularly made incendiary speeches on behalf of the KOD, once saying “We must get off the fence and make our views known”, continuing, “This thing may break out into violence and bloodshed any day now, and God help us if it doesn’t.” He is profiled in the Centennial Encyclopedia as the founder of Notre Dame College at Wilcox, home of the Hounds hockey team, and being in the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, but his provocative, outrageous opposition to Medicare isn’t mentioned. Another high-profile, staunch opponent of Medicare profiled in the Encyclopedia is Dr. E.W. (Staff) Barootes, who was the SMA President in 1962, went on to be appointed to the Senate by the Mulroney government, and like Father Murray, was appointed to the Order of Canada.

The important role of the labour movement in creating Medicare is indirectly acknowledged in mainstream history. Public Health Minister Davies, who helped bring pro-Medicare doctors to Saskatchewan, came from labour into politics, as did Walter Smishek, Minister of Health under Blakeney, who the Centennial Encyclopedia notes stood alone in opposing user and deterrent fees when he sat on the Advisory Planning Committee prior to Medicare. The Encyclopedia also notes that long-time labour activist Clarence Lyons was the “first president of the Saskatoon Community Clinic.”

Margaret and Ed Mahood

Women have been mostly left out of the discourse around the origins of Medicare. During the Doctors’ Strike, when the overwhelming majority of doctors closed their doors, it was female doctors like Saskatoon’s Marg Mahood and Joan Whitney-Moore that kept their doors open to provide medical services. And the community clinics wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without women’s unpaid domestic labour – organizing fund-raising events, physically setting up and decorating the new clinics, and doing some volunteer office work. My mother, Bea, worked many long nights to sew curtains for all the Regina clinic office windows.

An unfortunate compromise

Desperate to end the Doctors’ Strike, the Lloyd government agreed to a compromise with the SMA. On July 23, 1962 the two parties signed the Saskatoon Agreement, which saw government acquiesce to doctors’ demands to keep fee-for-service as the sole form of payment. Those working at the grassroots to build community clinics tried to get the provincial cabinet to hold out for more popular support, but the government buckled under the political panic created by the strike. It agreed to alter the legislation to allow doctors to practice outside Medicare, to pay doctors under the plan 85% of the College of Physicians fee schedule, and to increase the power of the doctor’s business association, the SMA, within the MCIC. In his official centennial history, Saskatchewan: A New History, Professor Bill Waiser oversimplifies this by saying this was “removing sections…that implied government control of doctors.” This was the SMA’s clarion call but not what the conflict was about; it was primarily about defending for-profit , fee-for-service medicine or replacing this with a public system, like our educational system.

This rolling back of public policy was devastating to the community clinics. As Bob Reid notes in his 1988 popular history, More Than Medicine, the Regina clinic went through years of internal power struggles over community versus medical control of staffing and policy. Still having a monopoly on the clinic’s earning power, some doctors wanted to keep organizational power, and a clinic so divided could not build the needed team-work. The introduction of global budgets in the 1970s helped by providing some resources for interdisciplinary and preventative program development, but by then the momentum for community (“socialized”) medicine had waned. The hopeful province, which had seen 25 community clinics spring up from the grass-roots in less than a year, ended up by the mid-1990s with only 5 struggling clinics.

The history we create today

Despite passionate and hopeful beginnings, public healthcare in Canada is now in relapse. In 2001, with the growth of for-profit clinics threatening to expand two-tiered medicine, past Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow was appointed to head the federal Commission on the Future of Healthcare. One main recommendation was about the need for primary healthcare reform. As Romanow said in 2002 “no other initiative holds as much potential for improving health and sustaining our healthcare system.” This will require full-service community health clinics, such as were envisaged during Saskatchewan’s struggle for Medicare. It was telling and a little ironic that Romanow had to go outside Saskatchewan, to a community clinic in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to find what he called “the best kept secret in the country”. Today, only four community clinics survive in Saskatchewan.

Rather than Medicare leading to community-based access to progressive medical practice, much of the province’s and country’s population is dependent on impersonal, for-profit, walk in clinics. Provincial health care systems are a hodge-podge of private and public services, with important preventive services in Saskatchewan like massage and chiropractics now totally un-funded, while there is escalating public expenditure for many unnecessary, ineffective, risky but profitable pharmaceutics. Pharmacare user-fees discriminate against the disadvantaged and disabled, homecare for the bulging senior population is severely under-resourced, and dental insurance is far from universal and remains in private hands.

Evidence-based medicine makes only slow progress in an environment where private interests dominate and could have flourished much better in a thoroughly public Medicare. Meanwhile, many families are without continuity of care from family doctors. During the visionary days of the struggle for Medicare no one imagined the widespread indignity to come. Learning a balanced history of the struggle that acknowledges Medicare’s grass-root pioneers is the first step to creating new momentum to realize the vision of Medicare. Better knowing this popular history can also inspire us for making other vital social changes, such as the shift to a public, democratic renewable energy system.

http://nextyearcountrynews.blogspot.com/

Cuban Medical Brigade - Honour

2010-12-27T23:52:00.004Z

By Nina Lakhani

The Indpendent

They are the real heroes of the Haitian earthquake disaster, the human catastrophe on America’s doorstep which Barack Obama pledged a monumental US humanitarian mission to alleviate. Except these heroes are from America’s arch-enemy Cuba, whose doctors and nurses have put US efforts to shame.

A medical brigade of 1,200 Cubans is operating all over earthquake-torn and cholera-infected Haiti, as part of Fidel Castro’s international medical mission which has won the socialist state many friends, but little international recognition.

Observers of the Haiti earthquake could be forgiven for thinking international aid agencies were alone in tackling the devastation that killed 250,000 people and left nearly 1.5 million homeless. In fact, Cuban healthcare workers have been in Haiti since 1998, so when the earthquake struck the 350-strong team jumped into action. And amid the fanfare and publicity surrounding the arrival of help from the US and the UK, hundreds more Cuban doctors, nurses and therapists arrived with barely a mention. Most countries were gone within two months, again leaving the Cubans and Médecins Sans Frontières as the principal healthcare providers for the impoverished Caribbean island.

Since 1998, Cuba has trained 550 Haitian doctors for free at the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina en Cuba (Elam), one of the country’s most radical medical ventures. Another 400 are currently being trained at the school, which offers free education – including free books and a little spending money – to anyone sufficiently qualified who cannot afford to study medicine in their own country.

John Kirk is a professor of Latin American studies at Dalhousie University in Canada who researches Cuba’s international medical teams. He said: “Cuba’s contribution in Haiti is like the world’s greatest secret. They are barely mentioned, even though they are doing much of the heavy lifting.”

This tradition can be traced back to 1960, when Cuba sent a handful of doctors to Chile, hit by a powerful earthquake, followed by a team of 50 to Algeria in 1963. This was four years after the revolution, which saw nearly half the country’s 7,000 doctors voting with their feet and leaving for the US.

The travelling doctors have served as an extremely useful arm of the government’s foreign and economic policy, winning them friends and favours across the globe. The best-known programme is Operation Miracle, which began with ophthalmologists treating cataract sufferers in impoverished Venezuelan villages in exchange for oil. This initiative has restored the eyesight of 1.8 million people in 35 countries, including that of Mario Teran, the Bolivian sergeant who killed Che Guevara in 1967.

The Henry Reeve Brigade, rebuffed by the Americans after Hurricane Katrina, was the first team to arrive in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake, and the last to leave six months later.

Cuba’s constitution lays out an obligation to help the worst-off countries when possible, but international solidarity isn’t the only reason, according to Professor Kirk. “It allows Cuban doctors, who are frightfully underpaid, to earn extra money abroad and learn about diseases and conditions they have only read about. It is also an obsession of Fidel’s and it wins him votes in the UN.”

A third of Cuba’s 75,000 doctors, along with 10,000 other health workers, are currently working in 77 poor countries, including El Salvador, Mali and East Timor. This still leaves one doctor for every 220 people at home, one of the highest ratios in the world, compared with one for every 370 in England.

Wherever they are invited, Cubans implement their prevention-focused holistic model, visiting families at home, proactively monitoring maternal and child health. This has produced “stunning results” in parts of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, lowering infant and maternal mortality rates, reducing infectious diseases and leaving behind better trained local health workers, according to Professor Kirk’s research.

Medical training in Cuba lasts six years – a year longer than in the UK – after which every graduate works as a family doctor for three years minimum. Working alongside a nurse, the family doctor looks after 150 to 200 families in the community in which they live.

This model has helped Cuba to achieve some of the world’s most enviable health improvements, despite spending only $400 (£260) per person last year compared with $3,000 (£1,950) in the UK and $7,500 (£4,900) in the US, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development figures.

Infant mortality rates, one of the most reliable measures of a nation’s healthcare, are 4.8 per 1,000 live births – comparable with Britain and lower than the US. Only 5 per cent of babies are born with a low birth weight, a crucial factor in long-term health, and maternal mortality is the lowest in Latin America, World Health Organisation figures show. Cuba’s polyclinics, open 24 hours a day for emergencies and specialist care, are a step up from the family doctors. Each provides for 15,000 to 35,000 patients via a group of full-time consultants as well as visiting doctors, ensuring that most medical care is provided in the community.

Imti Choonara, a paediatrician from Derby, leads a delegation of international health professionals at annual workshops in Cuba’s third city, Camaguey. “Healthcare in Cuba is phenomenal, and the key is the family doctor, who is much more proactive, and whose focus is on prevention … The irony is that Cubans came to the UK after the revolution to see how the NHS worked. They took back what they saw, refined it and developed it further; meanwhile we are moving towards the US model,” Professor Choonara said.

Politics, inevitably, penetrates many aspects of Cuban healthcare. Every year hospitals produce a list of drugs and equipment they have been unable to access because of the American embargo which prevents many US companies from trading with Cuba, and persuades other countries to follow suit. The 2009/10 report includes drugs for childhood cancers, HIV and arthritis, some anaesthetics, as well as chemicals needed to diagnose infections and store organs. Pharmacies in Cuba are characterised by long queues and sparsely stacked shelves, though in part this is because they stock only generic brands.

Antonio Fernandez, from the Ministry of Public Health, said: “We make 80 per cent of the drugs we use. The rest we import from China, former Soviet countries, Europe – anyone who will sell to us – but this makes it very expensive because of the distances.”

On the whole, Cubans are immensely proud and supportive of their contribution in Haiti and other poor countries, delighted to be punching above their weight on the international scene. However, some people complain of longer waits to see their doctor because so many are working abroad. And, like all commodities in Cuba, medicines are available on the black market for those willing to risk large fines if caught buying or selling.

International travel is beyond the reach of most Cubans, but qualified nurses and doctors are among those forbidden from leaving the country for five years after graduation, unless as part of an official medical team.

Like everyone else, health professionals earn paltry salaries of around $20 (£13) a month. So, contrary to official accounts, bribery exists in the hospital system, which means some doctors, and even hospitals, are off-limits unless patients can offer a little something, maybe lunch or a few pesos, for preferential treatment.

Cuba’s international ventures in healthcare are becoming increasingly strategic. Last month, officials held talks with Brazil about developing Haiti’s public health system, which Brazil and Venezuela have both agreed to help finance.

Medical training is another example. There are currently 8,281 students from more than 30 countries enrolled at Elam, which last month celebrated its 11th anniversary. The government hopes to inculcate a sense of social responsibly into the students in the hope that they will work within their own poor communities for at least five years.

Damien Joel Suarez, 27, a second year from New Jersey, is one of 171 American students; 47 have already graduated. He dismisses allegations that Elam is part of the Cuban propaganda machine. “Of course, Che is a hero here but he isn’t forced down your neck.”

Another 49,000 students are enrolled in the El Nuevo Programa de Formacion de Medicos Latinoamericanos, the brainchild of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, who pledged in 2005 to train 100,000 doctors for the continent. The course is much more hands-on, and critics question the quality of the training.

Professor Kirk disagrees: “The hi-tech approach to health needed in London and Toronto is irrelevant for millions of people in the Third World who are living in poverty. It is easy to stand on the sidelines and criticise the quality, but if you were living somewhere with no doctors, then you’d be happy to get anyone.”

There are nine million Haitians who would probably agree.

Brilliant Anti Cuts Video - By False Economy

2010-12-08T10:25:00.000Z

Those who haven’t yet visited the new False Economy website will have missed this excellent video in support of their crowd-sourced anti cuts campaign. Great writing, high production values and eye catching kinetic typography make for compelling viewing:

Directed by Lucian Evans and presented by actor Sam West, we hope this isn’t the last such project from the False Economy team.

It makes most party political broadcasts look like BTEC media studies coursework.

Political Scrapbook

Lib Dem's - Nowhere to Run

2010-12-04T18:07:00.001Z

Liberal Democrat conference cancelled over protest fears

Friday 03 December 2010

by Adrian Roberts
Morning Star

Fears over student protests have forced the Liberal Democrats to abandon a regional party conference planned for Saturday 4th December 2010.

Demonstrators had planned to target the event to voice their anger over the Lib Dems' ditching of a general election pledge to oppose tuition fee rises.

It had been set to take place at a north London school but party bosses were forced to look for somewhere else when the head teacher raised security concerns.

When the second venue (Royal Horticultural Halls in Vincent Square), said the same thing, the whole thing was pushed back to February.

"It has been postponed because of the venues' fears for security," a party spokesman said.

Fiona Edwards, a spokeswoman for protest organisers the Free Education Campaign, said the Lib Dems were "running scared."

"This reflects the fact that they are feeling the pressure from these student protests. They are running scared but we will keep chasing them down."

Ms Edwards said they had been expecting up to 1,000 people but were not sure whether any protest would go ahead now.

"It is a shame that they won't engage with students on this issue," she added.

MPs will vote on increasing fees 9th December. The Liberal Democrats continue to agonise over whether to vote for the plan.

The party is deeply divided, with some determined to vote against the measure in line with election promises.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the target of much student anger, has refused to say how he plans to vote

Thora Silverthorne - Progressive Nursing Leader - 100th Anniversary

2010-11-24T23:01:00.005Z

Thora Silverthorne
25th November 2010 will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Thora Silverthorne.

To celebrate this event a wreath will be laid at Reading Town Hall and a remembrance event will be held in the Thora Silverthorne rooms at UNISON Offices in Reading.

Thora Silverthorne

Nurses’ leader and International Brigader,

Thora Silverthorne was born in Abertillery on the 25th November 1910. She was the daughter of George Richard Silverthorne, a miner at the Vivian & Six Bells Pit and Sarah Boyt of Bargoed. Her early years were spent at 170 Alma Street, Abertillery, she secured a scholarship to Nataglo County School (Hafod) and attended the local Baptist church run by Pastor Rev Ivor Evans.

She joined the Young Communist League at 16 and, when she was old enough, the Abertillery Communist Party. Her father was a founder member of the local Communist Party and active in the miners union. Thora chaired meetings with prominent speakers such as Arthur Horner, the miners’ leader. "Everyone in Abertillery talked politics," she was to say of these times.

With her mother’s early death, as one of seven children, she was forced to leave Abertillery for England. Initially she worked as a nanny for Sutcliffe-Bartlett, the Reading Labour MP, but also fitted in selling the Daily Worker to the local railwaymen.

She then followed her sister into nursing at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford and was involved in Communist Party activities in the city. She participated with her close friend Christopher Hill in the October Club. The health needs of the hunger marchers that passed through Oxford on their way to London were tended to by her “helping her self to bandages and dressings on the wards”. She recalled that “Their feet were often in particularly bad state.”In 1935 Thora secured a Sister’s post at Hammersmith hospital and worked closely with Dr Charles Wortham Brook and his wife, also a nurse, Iris.

In 1935 Thora secured a Sister’s post at Hammersmith hospital and worked closely with Dr Charles Wortham Brook and his wife, also a nurse, Iris.and joined NUCO Guild of Nurses

At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War she volunteered to nurse, and was "elected" Matron at Granen hospital, caring for many anti-fascist German soldiers in the Thaelmann Centuria. The International Brigader, Michael Livesey, died in her - arms a memory she never forgot. Later, she was herself drafted into the International Brigade.

On her return she married Dr Kenneth Sinclair-Loutit, who she had met in Spain, where he was the medical unit's administrator They lived at 12 Great Ormond Street. Loutit was elected as a “unity front” Councillor prior to the War for Holborn, London.

Her involvement as sub editor of Nursing Illustrated led her to establish a nurses union (The National Nurses Association). This was a consciously progressive union for nurses in direct competition with the reactionary (Royal) College of Nursing. The RCN and hospital managers attacked her as “not being a registered nurse” or “paid by Moscow”, during the late 1930s. With the help of Communist Party nurses such as Nancy Blackburn (Zinkin), the Association ran a very high profile campaign to highlight the poor pay and conditions of nurses. The Association latter amalgamated with NUPE. Bryn Roberts, the General Secretary of that union was a native of Abertillery and a man whom Thora admired.

After the war she became a union official in the Civil Service Association. As Secretary of the Socialist Medical Association, she met Attlee and other Ministers to discuss the establishment of the NHS in 1948.

She married Nares Craig (a relative of Lord Craigavon) from Clitheroe, Lancashire a member of the CP’s architect group (also Cambridge night climber) and retired to Llanfyllin, Powys, North Wales for 25 years. Clive Jenkins and Frank Cousins were regular visitors there. Thora returned to London, to be close to her daughter Lucy Craig/Best (a Haringey Labour Councillor), a few years before her death on 17th January 1999.

The funeral service at Marylebone cemetery on 25th January heard `the Valley of Jarama’, `The Internationale’, Cwm Rhondda and a recording of the Welsh hymn “Land of my fathers” by Paul Robeson

Keep The NHS Working

2010-11-24T22:59:00.001Z

UNISON Keep our NHS Working and NHS Together Lobby of Parliament Summer 2006.

Pat McManus (Central Middx) , Desiree Clark and the late Lesley Kumarasamy (Kingston Primary Care Trust).

A Tribute to Lesley Kumarasamy,

UNISON Rep Kingston PCT

Longest surviving member of Kingston PCT of 33 years!

It is with deep sorrow and sadness that we have to say goodbye to a very special person who lost her life suddenly with cancer and died at Kingston hospital on Saturday 6^th January 2007. The funeral was at Kingston Vale on Saturday 13^th January where many tributes were made to her life. She leaves her husband, Kumar, two daughters Eleanor who is married to Dan, and Erin. She also leaves her mother, Alison who is in her eighties. Hundreds of mourners attended to pay their respects to a kind, caring and exceptional lady.

Lesley was well known throughout the local community of Tolworth an active member of St George’s church in Hamilton Avenue where she had many friends and helped in the Sunday school

She joined Kingston PCT on 24th September 1973 and had worked there for an amazing 33 years. She started as an Occupational Therapy (OT) assistant in the Day Hospital for Older People, running therapeutic groups such as reminiscence, cookery, arts and crafts and, yes, a bit of basket weaving! Following further training Lesley continued her work as an OT Technical Instructor on the in-patient rehabilitation wards. She really enjoyed her work with older people and always promoted the value of OT. She also valued her friends and colleagues very highly and enjoyed being part of the OT and Ward Team.

Lesley is remembered in her superb OT uniform of green trousers, white tunic and “dangly earrings”…

Lesley was extremely hard-working and recently represented OT as the union steward for Unison where she met many new friends including Desiree Clark who recalls the day they went to the Unison AGM at Tolworth hospital five years ago to find out who their local rep was only to be told “there isn’t one so maybe you would both like to join”. That was the moment when a great friendship and bond began including signing up new members, giving advice and support to members, representing staff side at meetings, rallying in Brighton and Parliament against the recent NHS cuts, talks with the local MP, Edward Davey, about the changes happening across the PCT and local community. Lesley also became her branch chair. She showed great enthusiasm, dedication and care in her work - above and beyond the call of duty.

Over the years she touched so many people’s lives and she was always smiling and never grumbled. She was a wonderful person who was generous and kind, but above all “genuine”.

Everyone will miss her dearly and she will be forever in our thoughts…….

UNISON 9/11 Ribbon and Badge

2010-11-17T21:54:00.006Z

UNISON Nurses handing out 9/11 ribbons at 2002 TUC Congress at Blackpool

UNISON 9/11 Badge from September 2001 worn by London emergency services staff.

UNISON working with SEIU

Liar Liar Video - Join The Resistance

2010-10-28T00:17:00.001+01:00

Hayes Cottage Hospital Occupation 25th October 1983

2010-10-25T00:57:00.002+01:00

Hayes Cottage hospital, West London. Occupied 25th October 1983 until late December 1983, when the local health authority backed down and the hospital was saved.

Marge Bayne and Sylvia Tebbenham led the Occupation for the staff members of COHSE and NUPE.

Northwood & Pinner Cottage Hospital was also occupied at the same time starting 26th October, led by the Matron Jean Carey COHSE member.

This is a list of Hospital Occupations/Work in's
I have secured from various accounts.

HOSPITAL OCCUPATIONS IN BRITAIN

Rainhill Asylum 1913
Radcliffe (Nottingham) Asylum 1933
Elizabeth Garret Anderson Nov 1976 - 1978
South London Weir 1976
South Middlesex 1977
Hounslow March 1977- Oct 1979
Bethnal Green June 1976-Dec 1978
Brookwood May 1978
St Benedicts (Tooting) Nov 1978- Sept 1980
Etwall Dec 1979 - March 1980
St Georges (Hyde Park) Jan 1980
Longworth (Oxford) Dec 1980 Feb 1981
Princess Mary Feb-April 1980
St Marys Harrow Rd 1981
Brookwood 1982
Woodgreen & Southgate Oct 1982 - Dec 1982
Thornton View 5th Aug 1983-1985
Hayes Cottage Hospital Oct-Dec 1983
Northwood & Pinner Cottage Hospital Oct-Dec 1983
Botleys Park Dec 1983
Harpenden Memorial Hospital (Maternity)
South London Women's Hospital (Clapham) 1984-1985
Neasden 1986
St Leonards, Hackney
Wards at UCLH

TUC Lobby 19th October 2010

2010-10-19T23:31:00.005+01:00

Thousands of public sector workers have packed Central Hall to capacity with standing-room only as they protest against the coalition government's plans for huge cuts in public spending. Messages from the rally are giving us updates on events.

There was huge applause for Dave Prentis when he says make the banks pay. If there's money for them and for war, there's money for the poor and for public services. His call for a pay freeze for bankers went down well. Dave spoke up for communities and the public services they rely on.

Lizzie Louden a pupil at Leytonstone school is due to speak after Dave.

The TUC's Brendan Barber said those who did well from the boom should help pay for the bust they created.

'Cowardly' Tory MPs hide from their constituents

Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, today branded Tory MPs as “cowards” for turning their backs on their constituents, to join a last-minute meeting convened by David Cameron.Dave Prentis said:“It is a sad day for democracy in this country. I am outraged that Tory MPs have turned their backs on their constituents, when so many have travelled hundreds of miles, to see them.“Many had made appointments months in advance and are armed with facts and figures about the damage that cuts will do to local people and services.“MPs should not be running from the truth and hiding in a meeting with Cameron. They should have the guts to come face to face with the constituents that they were elected to represent.“I am warning the Tories that they can run, but they can’t hide. UNSON members will track down their MPs and lobby them in their own constituency offices, until they get their message across.”

Claire Rayners Last Words

2010-10-12T17:13:00.004+01:00

Nurse: Claire Rayner

January 22 1931 - October 11 2010

Last Words

"Tell David Cameron
that if he screws up
my beloved NHS
I'll come back and
bloody haunt him!"

NHS Direct - A Critical Victory

2010-09-09T18:21:00.002+01:00

 U-TURN OVER CLOSURE OF NHS DIRECT

Commenting on reports that Health Minister Andrew Lansley has denied plans to shut down NHS Direct, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said:

³This is great news for patients and for staff at NHS Direct.  The service that  NHS Direct offers is tried and tested and is of great value to the public, as the outcry over the threat of closure  shows. The service provides a reassuring voice for worried parents in the middle of the night and is a well of advice that the public can tap into 24 hours a day. Andrew Lansley should not have put nurses and staff in fear of their jobs in this way

³I am sure staff will still be confused and worried that the Government may have another change of heart.  I would like a guarantee from the health minister that the 1,300 nurses working for NHS Direct will still have a job there this time next year.²

Michael Walker, UNISON national Officer for NHS Direct Staff, said:

³This sounds like fantastic news and a victory for common sense.  It shows the effectiveness of the Unions campaign against the threat to axe NHS Direct. There has been a real groundswell of opposition from the public, with thousands of people signing a petition against the closure.

³The service employs 3,400  NHS dedicated specialist nurses and professionals and provides expert help - taking more than 27,000 calls a day.  It successfully takes the pressure off the emergency services and from busy GP surgeries.

³However, I think we still need to be vigilant.  I want to hear more detail of Andrew Lansley¹s announcement today, to make sure that staff and the valuable service they provide, are truly protected in the longer term."

"UNISON congratulates NHS Direct staff and their union reps for getting behind the campaign and making their views known to the public"

UNISON 0845 355 0845

Lib Dem's to Axe 1,000 Nurses

2010-08-31T00:04:00.004+01:00

Lib Dem's to Axe 1,000 Nurses

at NHS Direct

Gail Adams UNISONhead of nursing said

"NHS Direct is a ground-breaking success story that has taken pressure off the emergency services and provided much needed advice and support to people.

"Private call centres with unqualified staff can never replace this excellent service, that provides vital, immediate support such as during the swine flu outbreak that saw scores of people die."

NHS Direct UNISON Official Michael Walker added:

"Not one Coalition party stated they would scrap NHS Direct in their manifesto. There is no mandate for cutting this service . If the government attack NHS Direct, what else is next? What other NHS cuts are they hiding? It is time for Cameron and Clegg to come clean about their real plans for our NHS."

"If the Lib Dems get their way 1,000 registered nurses, many of whom are disabled, will be sacked if this plan goes ahead".

"The shocking truth is this is the front line, these are real registered nurses and they are now facing the sack".

2,300 NHS dedicated specialist nurses and professionals are available on NHS Direct 24 hours a day.

ends

SOS - Save NHS Direct

2010-08-28T00:23:00.007+01:00

STAND UP FOR NHS DIRECT

The Guardian states that Conservative Secretary of State for Health has let slip that the Coalition is to scrap NHS Direct for a cheaper service.

The proposal is to replace 3,000 dedicated specialist nurses and health professionals with a cheap private call centre, with no access to a nurse.

Private call centres with unqualified staff can never replace this excellent service, which provides vital immediate support such as during the swine flu outbreak which saw scores of people die.

NHS Direct UNISON Official Michael Walker states:

"Not one Coalition party stated they would scrap NHS Direct in their manifesto. There is no mandate for cutting this service . If the government attack NHS Direct, what else is next? What other NHS cuts are they hiding? It is time for Cameron and Clegg to come clean about their real plans for our NHS."

Join UNISON's campaign to Save NHS Direct.

Don't Let Nurses Freeze - Kingston Nurses Demonstration

2010-06-24T07:50:00.005+01:00

Dont' Let Nurses Freeze

Kingston hospital’s decision to freeze front-line nursing posts will hit patient care hard as well as adding to the burden on existing over-stretched staff, said UNISON nurses at the hospital . The nurses condemned moves to cut the number of nurses on wards as part of a jobs freeze at the hospital, saying that it flies in the face of pledges to protect front-line NHS staff.

The Trust management have stated that they will not replace nurses who leave unless they are “critical”.

Michael Walker, Lonson Nursing officer for UNISON slammed the proposed cuts as “putting patient care at risk” saying:

“ it is outrageous that overworked nurses are being expected to cover for nursing posts that are not filled. UNISON believes that the cuts will put lives and patient care at risk. The Coalition Government told us that they would not cut front line services, and yet at Kingston - Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s local hospital - this is exactly what we are witnessing - nurses are very much frontline service”.

Nora Pearce, UNISON Nursing & Midwifery Convenor at the hospital said:

“The NHS has a very high turnover of nursing posts; nurses cannot simply be expected to pick up the work of posts no longer filled without compromising the care we provide.

“I urge those implementing the cuts to take serious consideration of our concerns and reverse this decision”

(pics) Kingston Nurses Demonstration 23 June 2010

COHSE Nurses - No Cuts 1980

2010-06-21T23:36:00.002+01:00

Excellent and widely used COHSE Nursing poster dating from circa 1980-1982

Bad Hotel - San Fran Boycott

2010-06-08T23:10:00.003+01:00

see also

http://www.thehumanracehorses.com/2010/05/30/flash-mob-protests-on-the-rise/

Muriel Coult - Forgotten Heroine Of Equal Pay Struggle

2010-05-29T22:53:00.001+01:00

Muriel Coult

Muriel Coult was an active member of the Civil Service Clerical Association (the union is today, along with other merging partners, part of PCS, the Public and Commercial Services Union. She was described in the official history of the union as being a "woman who had shown exceptional energy on the Youth Advisory Committee".

She won much praise and admiration for her pioneering trade union education courses during the war. "In spite of enemy action, transport difficulties and the complications caused by evacuation and other war time problems, she made a great success of organising weekend schools in many parts of the country. So much so that many other unions followed CSCA initiative."

Muriel was elected to the Union's National Executive Committee in 1937, a position she held until 1944, when she became a full time official, taking the title of `Assistant Secretary’. But, despite Muriel's energy and commitment, she became increasingly marginalised within the union because of her openly left-wing views and membership of the Communist Party, especially after right wingers captured the union in 1949.

However, this did not stop Muriel Coult playing the leading role in organising the union’s campaign for Equal Pay. The campaign was started on 11^th February 1953with a debate on Equal Pay in the House of Lords, moved by Lord Pethick-Lawrence, who had played a part in the original suffragette movement.

This was followed up with a much-copied photo opportunity; on Valentine’s Day 1953, Muriel Coult and two other union representatives delivered a huge valentines card, with an Equal Pay slogan on it, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the words “remember your promise of 16th May - Be true to US on budget day”!

Muriel Coult urged union members to collect signatures in homes, offices, special meetings, factory gates, shopping centres, and anywhere else. The aim was for a million signatures. In the event they collected 700,000 and this was presented on Equal Pay Day 9th March 1954 to the House of Commons by Douglas Houghton (a Labour MP) and Irene Ward (a Conservative MP). Outside, flags were flying bearing the old suffragette colours of purple and white, and there were purple and white buttonholes, purple and white stickers, and purple and white handbills - all bearing the slogan "Equal Pay on Budget Day".

It being Budget Day, the Chancellor posed with his red box for the famous photography. At the last minute, a group of union members produced from under their coats banners promoting equal pay, thus securing considerable press and television coverage.

Finally a Civil Service Equal Pay agreement was reached on 18th February 1955, 35 years after the House of Commons first approved the principle of Equal Pay in the sector. It was introduced in stages, which was meant it would not be fully operational until 1st January 1961.

Even so, Equal Pay disputes continued. Famously in 1959, a "Typists’ revolt" broke out, after it was discovered that the few male typists employed in service were earning 25% more than the women typists at the Treasury. Delays in addressing this grievance led, two days after the Augusts Bank holiday in 1959, to a thousand, manly young women, marching down Whitehall, singing and chanting as they went, gathering in a meeting in Horse Guards Avenue,

Muriel Coult, who became Muriel Jamieson by marriage, retired from the union in 1963 to become a teacher.

Muriel Coult surely deserves much better recognition today for her role in developing trade union education and even more importantly in securing the first real acceptance that Equal Pay in the Civil Service ought to be addressed, a fact which had repercussion's far beyond the Civil Service as the issue began to secure a foothold of attention in many, many other workplaces.

It is a scandal that in 2010 many women have still not secured Equal Pay. According to the Fawcett Society, Women working full-time earn on average 17%less per hour than men working full-time. For women working part-time compared to men working full-time the gap is 36% per hour – rising to 45% in London. But, without women such as Muriel, perhaps the scandal might be even worse than it is!

Source: the history of CPSA by Eric Wigham
Michael Walker

Why Florence Nightingale Must Die

2010-05-12T15:14:00.005+01:00

Today, according to the International Congress of Nurses (ICN)

Is International Nurses Day

It is presently held on the birthday of Florence Nightingale

This is our response:-

Kick Over The Statues

WE REPORT THE LONG OVER DUE DEATH OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
By Michael Walker UNISON Nursing Officer for Nursing Times April1999

All over Eastern Europe statues of Lenin are being taken off their pedestals (1999), dismantled and hauled off to be cut up. It is in the same vein that the nursing profession must, as we enter the new millennium, start to exorcise the myth of Florence Nightingale. Not necessarily because Florence Nightingale was a very bad person, but because the impact of her legacy or more correctly the interpretation of that legacy has held the nursing profession back too long.

The Nightingale myth had from it’s earliest days been appropriated by the nursing hierarchy and the founders of the Royal College of Nursing who colluded with them, to use it to sell any vocational, self sacrificing ideal required for the good of the service and not the good of nursing.

As a result of the Nightingale myth, the leadership of nursing in Britain for the best part of this century has stressed "vocation" and subordination to the medical profession and cast nursing as somehow non political. We cannot progress until we break from the yoke of the Nightingale myth.

We must ask ourselves as nurses why it is that the medical professional still dominates health care. Why very few nurses are in the political arena (it is only with the 1997 General Election that we have had nurses elected to parliament). And why nursing trade unionism has not made more of an impact. A consequence of these failings has been that nurses remain professionally impotent and nurses pay lags behind that of other "organised" professions in the UK and nurses pay in other western nations.

The failure of British nursing to meet its potential, I would contend, is the ever present Florence Nightingale, whose views, whether based on myths or reality, has stopped nursing from progressing into a profession in its own right. What is clear, is that the British establishment sought from the very origins of modern nursing to sanitise nursing, and ensure that its heroine would be acceptable: a white, English, middle class, protestant women.

Florence Nightingale fulfilled this role admirably, unlike Irish catholic nurses such as Joanna Bridgeman and Jamaican nurses like Mary Seacole who made an equally important contribution to nursing during the Crimea War. Neither of these has been officially credited for their efforts.

It was Joanna Bridgeman who developed the system of nursing and management that Florence Nightinglae adopted, while the efforts of the black Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole in the Crimea were cold shouldered. What is equally interesting to note is that it was probably the Quaker, Elizabeth Fry, who has greatest claim to the title founder of modern nursing with her pioneering work at St John's hospital by her Institution of Nursing Sisters, a number of years before Florence Nightingale embarked upon her endeavours. So maybe international nurse’s day should be celebrated on her birthday, the 21st May.

Once the Nightingale myth and her status as a Saint had been confirmed by the British establishment, Florence Nightingale set about turning out her robotic acolytes from the St Thomas School of Nursing from 1860 onwards, soon capturing the role of matrons in most major hospitals. Ehrenreich & English encapsulated this well in following quote: ‘Training emphasised character, not skills. The finished product, the Nightingale nurse, was simply the ideal lady …absolved of reproductive responsibilities.

To the doctor, she brought the wifely virtue of absolute obedience. To the patient, she brought the selfless devotion of a mother. To the lower level hospital employees, she brought the firm but kindly discipline of a household manager accustomed to dealing with servants’. Abel-Smith sates: "The power (of matrons) was reinforced by the para-military organisation of the nursing staff and the rigid discipline imposed in the training schools. As Miss Nightingale said rather ominously "No good ever comes of anyone interfering between the head of nursing establishment and her nurses. It is fatal to discipline". The control of the matrons over her nurses was to play a crucial role in future attempts to enrol nurses in professional organisations or trade unions".

No wonder Ann Widdecombe (supported by RCN General secretary Christine Hancock) called for the return of the Matron at last year’s Tory party conference. Florence Nightingale supported the subordinate role of nurses to doctors, opposed registration of nurses, three year training of nurses, did not see mental health nurses as part of nursing, and had questionable success at her hospital in the Crimea, she also turned her back on the fine history of lay women healers, not to mention her opposition to women speaking in public..

Nurses are increasingly beginning to challenge the Nightingale myth. Today’s nurses, especially our UNISON nursing students are much more questioning, much more involved in campaigning and much more willing to stand up for their rights and pushing the bounderies of our professional role. This development can only be a good thing as nursing enters the new millennium. Nurses of the world unite you have nothing to lose but your chains By Michael Walker UNISON Nursing student Officer and Wendy Wheeler RGN RHV

Tories: I Warn You !

2010-05-11T22:30:00.001+01:00

"I warn you. I warn you that you will have pain – when healing and relief depend upon payment. I warn you that you will have ignorance – when talents are untended and wits are wasted, when learning is a privilege and not a right. I warn you that you will have poverty – when pensions slip and benefits are whittled away by a government that won’t pay in an economy that can't pay. I warn you that you will be cold – when fuel charges are used as a tax system that the rich don't notice and the poor can't afford.

I warn you that you must not expect work – when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don't earn, they don't spend. When they don't spend, work dies. I warn you not to go into the streets alone after dark or into the streets in large crowds of protest in the light. I warn you that you will be quiet – when the curfew of fear and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient. I warn you that you will have defence of a sort – with a risk and at a price that passes all understanding. I warn you that you will be home-bound – when fares and transport bills kill leisure and lock you up. I warn you that you will borrow less – when credit, loans, mortgages and easy payments are refused to people on your melting income.

If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday, I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old."

Neil Kinnock General Election 1983

Join The Resistance: No Cuts

2010-05-11T22:23:00.001+01:00

CLASS KILLS - INEQUALITY IN HEALTH

2010-02-12T19:24:00.007Z

CLASS KILLS
Morning Star 11th February 2010

By Will Stone

Shocking research published in a major new report has revealed that people living in England's poorest areas die seven years younger on average than those in its richest communities.

The Marmot review shows that although life expectancy has risen overall in both poor and rich areas, distinct inequalities remain.

Along with a lower life expectancy the report also finds that for poorer areas a greater proportion of people's lives will be spent unwell.

The government-commissioned report, published by epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot of University College London, estimates that up to 202,000 early deaths could be avoided if the NHS spent more to tackle these inequalities.

He also called for an increase in minimum wage to allow everyone the opportunity for a healthier lifestyle.

Professor David Hunter, an expert in health management at Durham University, said: "There are few votes in health inequalities. There must be a real political commitment at all levels because a fairer society will benefit all.

"As politicians of all hues become increasingly preoccupied with securing electoral advantage, it is questionable whether this important report will receive the careful and considered attention it deserves."

The report warns that doing nothing to tackle these inequalities would cost the economy more, accounting for £33 billion spent every year.

It calls for NHS spending on preventing illness with more money going to initiatives such as helping people to stop smoking.

Professor Mike Kelly, of the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence, also argues there needs to be a shift away from medical interventions that treat existing illnesses to those preventing them developing in the first place.

President of the UK Faculty of Public Health Professor Alan Maryon-Davis added: "This report is not just about fairness and opportunity - essential though these things are. It is also about hard-nosed investment in preventive strategies that really pay off."

Health Secretary Andy Burnham welcomed the report and agreed that more work is needed to tackle inequalities.

"It's not right that where we live can dictate the state of our health," he said. But many are asking the government exactly what it plans to do.

Haringey TUC chairman Keith Flett, whose area includes some of the poorest areas in the country including Tottenham's Northumberland Park, said: "The really big question posed is what is going to be done about decent jobs and wages and the impact this has on people's lives?"

He added that people in Tottenham were literally dying because they were poor

HEALTH FOR SALE

1955

Hugh Faulkner & Barbara McPherson

Socialist Medical Association and Sigerist Society

Before the war, many valuable studies were made of the class incidence of disease and its relation to real wages and housing conditions. John Boyd Orr, George McGonigle and John Kirby, Richard Titmuss, Julian Tudor Hart and Wright, Wilkins and Marrack published facts and figures which became known widely throughout the Labour movement.

Since the war, however, the belief has been fostered that class differences have greatly decreased. The myth is spread that the rich are taxed out of existence, that slumps have been charmed away by Keynesian economics, and that the Welfare State gives us all an equal chance. This supposed happy state of affairs does not, unfortunately, survive the cold light of the Registrar-General’s Report.(i)

It is clear that the general health of the people as a whole has improved. A male child born in Britain today can expect to live sixty-seven years, whereas in 1901 the expectation of life was only forty-nine years. Many factors have played a part in this.

The development of public hygiene, a continuous period of full employment, the elimination of some of the worst slums, advances in medical treatment and its greater availability to the whole population, have all contributed. This improvement in general health which exists in Britain, and also in some of the more technically advanced countries, is by no means true of the entire world (ii).

The position in the overseas territories is quite different—in Burma, for example, the death rate actually rose from 32 per 1,000 in 1947 to 48 per 1,000 in 1949. In 1951, the U.S. Department of State gave figures showing that two-thirds of the world’s population had only half the expectation of life of the developed one-fifth (iii).

It is only just over a hundred years ago that Dr. Edwin Chadwick published his sensational report on the relation of ill-health to poverty (iv).

(i) The Registrar General’s Report: Decennial Supplement, I951: Occupational Mortality, Part I.

(ii) The Cost of Sickness and the Price of Health: Winslow, Geneva 1951.

(iii)U.S. Department of State (1950): Publication 3719: Economic Co-operation

Series 24.

(iv)The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain: Edwin Chadwick, London. Published by W. C. Lowes & Sons for H.M, Stationery Office, 1843

Things have improved, at least in the non-colonial countries, considerably since then. During this period two main things have happened. Firstly, the workers have forced improvements in their living conditions on the ruling class, have fought for and obtained better food, better houses, better hospitals and medical care, etc. Secondly, capitalism has gradually been forced to recognise that a minimum of health care for the working population is essential for efficient production. Capitalism made the “great discovery” that disease costs money. The result of this is seen in the steady improvement in the most developed capitalist countries in the infant mortality figures (except for war-time peaks) over the past fifty years.

The main lesson for socialists in the Registrar-General’s Report is that despite the general improvement in health, class differences in many diseases have remained remarkably constant.

The Report divides the population into five social classes:

Social Class I — professional

Social Class II — intermediate occupations

Social Class III — skilled occupations

Social Class IV — partly skilled

Social Class V — labourer

In 1950 a labourer (Social Class V) was still five times more likely to die from bronchitis than his employer. He was 31 times more likely to die from pneumonia and more than twice as likely to die from peptic ulcer or pulmonary tuberculosis.

In 1950, 2,592 more men from Social Class V who were between twenty and sixty-four years of age died from bronchitis, pneumonia, gastric ulcers and tuberculosis of the lungs than would have been expected to die if they belonged to Social Class I. In other words, by raising the social conditions of those in Glass V to that of Class I, about 2,600 deaths from these four diseases alone could have been prevented.

In many other diseases the same story is revealed. In the first month of life, the death rate amongst children of Social Class V in 1921 was 1.6 times that of children in Social Class I; in 1950 the ratio was 1.7 to 1. For children aged four weeks to one year, the ratio in 1921 was 4.0 to 1 and in 1950 it was 3.8 to 1. In other words, nearly four times as many children per 1,000 from the lowest-paid workers’ families die between the ages of one month and one year as in the case of children of the upper classes, and this relationship was almost exactly the same in 1940 as in the bitter years after the first world war.

There are approximately 7,000 fatal accidents in British homes each year. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents puts bad housing as their principal cause, and thus a greater proportion of these accidents take place in the overcrowded, ill-repaired homes of the working class. For example, four times as many babies under one year are accidentally killed by suffocation in Social Class V than in Social Class II.

There are a few diseases where the death rate is higher in Social Class I—high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary thrombosis and diseases of the liver. Despite this, however, the mortality ratio(v) for men aged 20-64 in Social Class I in 1950 was 97, for Social Class V 118. The difference between the classes is particularly noticeable between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five, where the ratio is 83 for Class I to 143 for Class V. In other words, well over a third of the deaths of labourers in the prime of life could be prevented by a change of social environment.

These figures apply to men in different social classes, irrespective of the nature of their employment. Similar differences are shown by their wives. It is therefore likely that the differences in mortality are due to such general social conditions as income, food and holidays.

When we consider specific occupations, it is obvious that the risk of accident incurred by the man at the bench is far greater than that of the man in the director’s chair. Every year there are nearly a million accidents at work which lead to at least three days’ absence from work in each case. As a result of accidents at work, nearly 3,000 workers die every year and, of these, 750 are killed in the mines. In some occupations the workers are exposed to particular risks (apart from the notifiable industrial diseases). Thus a coal-face worker is four times more likely to die from tuberculosis than a farmer, and nearly twice as likely to die from pneumonia as a transport worker.

(v) The Standardised Mortality Ratio is the number of deaths occurring among men aged 20-64 in a given occupation, expressed as a percentage of the number of deaths that might have been expected to occur if the given occupation had experienced within each age group the same death rate as that of a standard population consisting of all occupied and retired men.

The figures in the Registrar-General’s Report refer only to deaths. It is always difficult to get a reliable picture of the incidence of ill-health not resulting in death, since sickness rates are rarely published. These, however, would probably show an even more striking class incidence, as many of the diseases showing an excess mortality in Class V—such as bronchitis, gastric ulcers, and tuberculosis—produce a period of chronic ill-health, sometimes of considerable duration, before causing death. Some of the few statistics available come from the U.S.A.(vi) Americans on the dole suffer over four times more from bone diseases than those with incomes of $5,000 a year or more. For rheumatism the ratio between these two groups was 3.69 to 1, for digestive diseases 3.4 to 1, for nervous diseases 2.87 to 1 and for degenerative diseases 2.68 to 1. These figures are particularly interesting as they show that there is a marked class difference in the incidence of certain diseases (diseases of bone, nervous and degenerative diseases) which, unlike tuberculosis, rheumatism and chronic bronchitis, are not commonly thought of as diseases of poverty.

In the case of the old people, no complicated statistics are needed to appreciate that a human being cannot house, clothe and feed himself on 32s. 6d. a week in Britain today. In a large Liverpool hospital in one year there were thirty-nine cases of proved malnutrition out of 792 admissions (i.e., 2.8 per cent of all admissions).(vii) Of these thirty-nine cases, thirty-three were over sixty years of age and the malnutrition of the majority of these was shown to be directly due to poverty.

Apart from the Registrar-General’s Report, further information concerning social conditions and ill-health is available from a study, between 1945 and 1948, of all the admissions to a group of hospitals in Scotland.

In the county districts of Stirlingshire (excluding the burghs of Stirling and Falkirk) there is “a fairly close correspondence between the extent of overcrowding, the number of in-patients treated, the number of patient bed-days and the number of out-patients per 1,000 of the population”, and in Ayrshire, “it seems fairly clear that in the central districts, where housing conditions are worst, the hospital load was heaviest”. In Ayr burgh, hospital attendance both of in-patients and out-patients was nearly twice as common in the two most crowded wards as in the two least crowded.

(vi) U.S. National Health Survey (1935-46): Bulletin No. 9: Disability from Specific Causes in Relation to Economic Status. Washington 1948.

(vii) The Lancet, October 34, 1953, p. 860.

In addition, it was found that the required length of stay in hospital was much longer for those in the lower income groups than in the higher.(viii).

The figures used in this article are all taken from official sources or from scientific articles about health in Britain since the end of the war. No attempt has been made to deal with the appalling health conditions in the British Empire, conditions which are not sufficiently known in the Labour movement. It will require a separate article to consider the health situation in the Empire.

We do not need, however, to look further afield than this country to realise that it is still possible to buy good health if you have the money. Good food, adequate housing and sufficient leisure can be bought and they all contribute towards good health. Under capitalism only one section of the population has the full benefit of these necessities for health. It must be emphasised that although our present evidence shows that the conditions in which we live have a very great effect on our state of health, exactly how they act is not so clear.

Each disease does not have one cause and one cure; the individual reaction to disease also differs considerably. One thing is certain, however: if diseases are studied not as isolated occurrences but as part of the interaction between the individual and his environment, a deeper understanding of their cause will result.

Health has often been taken as synonymous with the absence of disease, or the ability to carry on at work or school. That this is a very stupid attitude towards health will be seen if any group of children are watched at play; it is easy to see that some have abundant energy, bright eyes, rosy cheeks. Others lack these signs of positive health. All men, women and children should have these attributes, but no amount of medicine, hospital beds or specialist doctors can alone produce them. The minor disorders that reduce health are usually so easy to prevent, so difficult to cure.

It is clear that environmental factors, living conditions, are just as important factors in the health of the people as medical care. of the living conditions of the whole population to that of the best there are today. Only Socialism can carry out this task. The working class have many allies amongst health

(viii) Hospital and Community. Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, 1950.

One of the many contradictions of capitalism is that it cannot carry out the scheme of preventive medicine which is needed—the raising workers who are genuinely seeking to improve the health of the people and to fight against the misery and unhappiness created by disease.

Yet under capitalism, their efforts are frustrated at every turn by the conditions under which so many of the population live. The wage earners stay on at work in order to keep their families, so what started as a minor complaint becomes a major disability. At the present time there is an urgent need for more funds for research, for more convalescent homes and for more holiday homes which could prevent the onset of illness due to over-strain and over-work.

Patients are returned after hospital treatment and convalescence to the same grim conditions of overcrowding and poverty which have contributed so much to their illness. Old people are treated with bottles of medicine when what they need is money to buy adequate food and clothing.

Advances in medical technique are of concern to our movement, for they can contribute to the battle against disease. The discoveries of penicillin and the other antibiotics, the advances made in this country in such fields as anaesthetics and the surgery of the chest, are causes of real pride. They have contributed enormously to the lessening of suffering by the cure or alleviation of established diseases.

Yet these are only part of the story.

In 1955 health is still distributed unevenly among the various social classes. The Labour movement must fight for better health for the whole people. The figures quoted here show that it is possible, and that thousands of people die before their time (chance of birth still affects the individual’s health and length of life). Much can be done to improve the position now, but only under Socialism, when classes are abolished, can the basis be provided for positive health for the whole of the people.

Many allies can be won for the fight for Socialism by explaining these facts to honest and sincere people.

Health for himself and his family is one of the primary desires of the human being. The socialist health workers can lead the fight, present the figures and explain the issues, but only the agitation of the organised Labour movement will obtain the required results. We must reverse the attitude where so much minor illness is accepted as inevitable, and show that positive health is obtainable and will flourish under Socialism.

HEALTH FOR SALE

Hugh Faulkner & Barbara McPherson

April 1955

END

George McGonigle, (1888-1939) born Monkwearmouth near Sunderland, Medical Officer Stokton on Tees

John Kirby

Richard Titmuss (1907-1973) statistician at LSE advisor to the Labour Party

Sir John Boyd Orr (1880-1971) born Kilmarus near Kilmarnock Scottish Doctor and teacher, Member of Parliament Scottish Universities

Julian Tudor Hart 1927- born London, General Practioner, and Communist councillor Glyncorrwg, South Wales, Communist Party Health Advisory Committee

Socialist Medical Association & Greek Democracy

2010-02-12T18:53:00.011Z

Socialist Doctors Plead For Prisoner

Daily Worker 18th November 1964

An appeal has been made by the Socialist Medical Association (SMA) to the Greek Premier and King Constantine to obtain the release of Dr. Manolis Siganos, a political prisoner who is gravely ill.

Earl Bertrand Russell yesterday sent a cable to Premier Papandreou urging Dr. Siganos' immediate release—"his continued cruel detention can only discredit Greece throughout the world,"' he said. Dr. Siganos, in his mid-fifties, has just had another heart attack in St. Paul Prison Hospital in Athens.

He is one of the 100 men and eight women who are still held as political prisoners in Greece. Dr. David Kerr, Labour M.P. for Wandsworth Central, has taken up his case.

Dr. Siganos was first jailed before the war for his opposition to the Metaxas dictatorship, and was among those handed over to the Italians and Germans in 1941 by the Greek Fascists.

VETOED BY KING

He was sentenced again in 1955 for his political activities. An appeal to the Council of

Grace resulted in a cut of his sentence to ten years, but a recommendation by the then Minister of Justice that it should be cut to nine because of his ill-health—which would have meant his immediate release — was vetoed by the King.

All his appeals for release under the rule that political prisoners should be freed if they

have served two-thirds of their sentence have been rejected, though he has only nine more months to serve.

The League for Democracy in Greece has made an appeal in London for cables to be sent to Premier Papandreou, or to the Greek Ambassador at 51 Upper Brook Street, W1

`Danny' (D.D. or Denzil David) Stalford

Denzil David Stalford, better known as “Danny” Stalford, was born at Camberwell, South London on the 19th February 1915, the son of Denzil Stalford Snr, who ran a dental practice in Camberwell Green. Danny attended Wilson Grammar school and then went onto undertake his dental training at Guys Hospital, London.

When his father’s practice was bombed during World War Two, the family (he had one brother and two sisters) were evacuated to Horley. Danny was conscripted into the Royal Army Medical Corps and was the leader for a mobile dental surgery based from a lorry and as such was part of the D-day landings.

As a member of the Socialist Medical Association he attended meetings concerned with the formation of the National Health Service. Outline plans for the dental part of the scheme were debated and were eventually adopted into the Act of Parliament. In May 1948 the bill for the new National Health Service was passed and Danny was proud to have been involved and was delighted at the boost it gave to modern dentistry and free treatment to the masses.

After the war he joined the Communist Party and became active in the Socialist Medical association. At the request of the League for Democracy in Greece (1945-1975)he became involved with supporting Greek political prisoners and as such visited in prison and became a close friend of well-known Greek radio broadcaster Dr Kanavos. It was also through the activities of the League that he met his future wife Maria Dracoboulou from Olympia, Greece who he married in 1959.

Danny established, from 1948, a flourishing NHS practice at Carlton, in Burnhurst Road, Horley. And soon established himself as a true friend of the working people of Horley, even paying out of his own pocket for holidays for his less fortunate patients.

Danny and a local GP were also held in high esteem amongst the local travelling community who offered them both the highest degree of respect within their community, Horley. During this period the locality was in the throws of rapid change with massive building and economic developments associated with the growth of Gatwick airport, which the Communist Party was able to tap into.

In the 1960s, Danny first started to stand for the council. By 1964, when he stood as the Communist candidate for the Horley seat on Surrey Rural District Council, he was able to secure 20% of the vote. As he wrote in the Party press at the time: "In Horley and surrounding district we have been building on the democratic work for some years, and achieved a vote of 395 at the last election." In 1967, Stalford increased his vote in the Horley division of the Surrey County Council election to 453 and reaching 9% of the vote. He was now poised to break though into the political mainstream at least in his own community, a position he achieved by sheer personality. By the 1970s he was an elected Communist Councillor for the town, a position he held for six years, regularly topping the poll, such was his almost universal popularity in the town. He held his seat until he became too ill to meet the requirements of the job and retired.

However, the Communist Party’s success in Horley did not go down well with the local Conservatives, who not only tried to change the boundaries of wards to stop him being elected by gerrymandering them, but made life difficult for the Communist Party members in the town.

The Stalford house was not only home to the Dental practice but the hub of Communist and progressive causes (particularly CND) in the town and more generally in this part of Surrey in the 1960s and 1970s, not only had a very high Daily Worker/Morning Star circulation but also a thriving Young Communist League.

Other active Communist Party members in Horley during this period included Ernest Osbourne a painter and decorator, who had fought in the Spanish Civil War, Cyril Granger whose father owned a shoe shop in the town and Irish born Bill Hunter, an aircraft Engineer at British Caledonian Airways.

In 1975 the Dental Practice moved to its present location at Massetts Road, Horley, where his daughter still runs the practice, whilst his son went into the media. Danny continued to be a Communist all his life, however by the end had ceased being a member, dismayed at the infighting that paralysed the Party in the 1970/80s.

When Danny died in late 1999, after a long illness, there was a massive wave of respect offered to his family from the grateful people of Horley, notably from all political shades of opinion who recognised only too well the work that Danny Stalford had carried out for the people of Horley in making it a better town. After all he was their conscience.

Danny will be sadly missed by his wife Maria, daughter Nikolia son Manolis and his many comrades.

French Nursing Students - Fighting Back

2010-01-13T19:31:00.011Z

JOIN THE

FRENCH RESISTANCE

Thousands of French Nursing Students, members of UNISON’S sister union the CGT have been staging demonstrations in Paris over their poor treatment.

In November Nursing Students had been asked to work in army run swine flu vaccine centres on a voluntary basis but the Government then introduced draconian laws to force Nursing Student to work in centres.

This lead to the spectre of Nursing Students being woken from their beds by the police, to be escorted to work to ensure they did not abscond.

The CGT complained that Nursing Students had received little or no training and the centres were operating in a totally chaotic basis, where bullying was rife.

Nursing Students were being forced to work 14 hours a day, (8am –10pm) seven days a week with few breaks. They even have to pay for their own transport to the army run centres.

The initial result from the CGT nursing students campaign has been that the Conservative French Health Minister, Roselyne Bachelot, has been forced to issue advice stating that Nursing Students cannot be “requisitioned” for more than ten hours a week, the CGT has also won better pay for Nursing Students.

UNISON Nursing Students have an equally proud record, having defeated attempts to make them work millennium eve/day, we stopped the introduction of payments for uniforms and we are also the only union to fight for a wage and employment rights for Nursing Students.

Nursing Students are demanding “Dignity and Respect”. You can join the UNISON Nursing Student e-mail network by contacting your local UNISON Representative stating your name/University or UNISON Direct 0845 355 0845