Female radiographer taking an x-ray of a patient

Blog

hands placing coins onto one of three piles

14 March 2023

Why do we need investment in NHS pay?

Healthcare professionals are in high demand. The UK currently has low unemployment. Vacancies in the health sector are high and growing. But working for the NHS is becoming less and less attractive, as pay falls further behind the private sector. Cost of living pressures are hitting hard The Office for National Statistics says that public sector

person using a laptop computer

16 February 2023

Dear Rishi

Read our letter to Rishi Sunak on behalf of all NHS staff

Union members marching behind a banner reading 'we demand better'

15 December 2022

We stand #WithNHSStaff taking action on pay and staffing

Today, nurses in the Royal College of Nursing walk out in their first ever nationwide strike. In the coming weeks, they will be followed by many other staff from a further five NHS unions who have voted for industrial action so far, including Unison, Unite, GMB, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and the Royal College

Multiple images of NHS staff in uniform

22 November 2022

A million reasons to invest in the NHS

Pay a visit to Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s Twitter feed and you’ll find graphics trumpeting increased funding to the NHS. It’s obvious why he’d boast about it. Polls consistently show huge majorities of the public in favour of putting more money into the health service. A great return on investment It’s not just smart politics

A woman sitting on a sofa holding an energy bill and looking worried

4 October 2022

Putting two and two together

Are you on an NHS waiting list? With one in eight people in England now waiting for treatment and the backlog still growing, more and more of us can expect to get stuck in the queue for care. It’s not just waiting lists that are breaking records. The number of vacancies across the NHS in

A health carer holding a patient's hand

20 July 2022

The public is #WithNHSStaff for fair pay

This week the government have finally announced the pay award for NHS staff. It comes a full 109 days after it was due. And well short of what was needed. A missed chance to save the NHS Ministers have missed a chance to invest in the future, and start to turn the NHS around. They’ve

piles of coins on a table

20 July 2022

What is the outcome of the NHS pay review process?

The government has announced (19 July) a flat rate pay increase of £1400 for NHS staff in England, backdated to 1st April. Those at the top of band 6 and all of band 7 will receive a slightly higher amount, equivalent to 4%. With inflation at 9.4% in the year to June, the award equates

29 June 2022

Politicians hold the cards on pay

If the media has agreed on one thing over recent weeks it’s this: more strikes are coming. Record inflation is squeezing the pay of public sector workers, whose wages have been held down for a decade. Meanwhile, government ministers are urging ‘pay restraint’ (translation: real-terms pay cuts), swimming against the tide of public opinion which

A nurse sitting in a hospital corridor with her hand to her head

17 June 2022

Half of all NHS staff considering leaving their job

An exclusive poll run by the #WithNHSStaff campaign has revealed huge numbers of staff may quit, and widespread concerns about how staff shortages are already affecting patient care. In the survey, more than half of respondents said they had considered leaving in the last 12 months, with one in five either actively looking or already

A handwritten sign in a window reading: 'Please be patient we are very understaffed'

23 May 2022

It’s crunch time for the NHS staffing crisis

We all know there’s a staffing crisis in the NHS. But what does that really mean? Figures published in March showed there are now 110,000 vacancies across the NHS in England. That’s about one in every 10 posts. Rising workload, stress and burnout Obviously, that makes things a lot harder for the staff who are