LETTER: Government has left it too late for NHS

Having just got back from Unite Policy Conference 2018 in Brighton it has been a week of celebrating 70 years of our NHS.

I met Ian Evans, a biomedical scientist who works at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. After a motor cycle accident Ian’s own colleagues saved his life. This is just one of the many true life stories over the coming week that I heard about, what a great service we have and its credit to the staff who care for us and the NHS.

But how did we get this far?

1948 – Aneurin Bevan launched the NHS.

1949 – with workforce shortages caused by the second World War, the government begins to recruit NHS workers from abroad, including those who were part of the Windrush generation from the Caribbean.

1967 – The contraceptive pill is made available to all women and not just those who are married.

1973 – The first national NHS strike by underpaid ancillary workers results in a pay rise.

1979 – The first bone marrow transplant on a child with primary immunodeficiency at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

1986 – The world’s first triple transplant, consisting of a heart, lung and liver, takes place at Cambridge’s Papworth Hospital.

1991 – NHS Trusts are established, following the NHS Community Act from the previous year. Health authorities can now manage their own budgets and purchase health care from hospitals.

As a Labour government sweeps to victory in the 1997 general election after a campaign of warning against Tory destruction of the NHS.

The following year led to a landmark equal pay victory for speech therapists, supported by Unite’s predecessor union MSF.

As the fight continues in 2012, we saw the first doctors strike in 40 years over working hours and pensions.

2015 – Sustainability and Transformation Plans, dubbed Slash, Trash and Privatise by Unite, launched in a bid to drive through £22b of budget cuts.

In 2017 as the situation gets worse, the Red Cross warn of humanitarian crisis within the NHS as the Tory budget cuts put services and staff under more pressure and increasing the strain.

To date we see the government offer 6.5 per cent pay increase to NHS workers, after widespread campaigning by trade unions. This ended an eight-year pay freeze for NHS workers.

We have come a long way as Unite has been at the forefront of defending the NHS against Tory attacks in recent years, running campaigns that helped secure a long overdue pay rise for workers and extra funding for under pressure services.

These battles are far from over as we see promises of funding from what we currently pay into the European Union over a ten-year plan for the NHS.

I feel this government have left it too late with promises, the fight will go on for a public service that is based on need and is free at the point of use.

Rodney Sadd
Union delegate
Proud member of Unite the union and South Holland & The Deepings CLP