Reunite the NHS
18 March 2019
There are positive signs that fragmentation of the NHS in England is coming to an end. Professional bodies, unions and others are unanimous that the 2012 Health and Social Care Act should go.
Health
Health
'Austerity' alive and well as government dodges responsibility
11 February 2019
Millions around the country are experiencing every day the consequences of a political system that has washed its hand of the people and handed control over to the European Union, the market, or both.
NHS plan: still not fit
15 January 2019
The government's NHS Long Term Plan for England came out on 7 January. It includes significant spending and opportunities to improve the service. But there are also critical weaknesses for NHS workers to deal with.
Call for more student doctors
Britain needs to increase the number of student doctors, says the president-elect of the Royal College of Physicians.
Journal pans device regulation
An editorial in the British Medical Journal – not noted for a pro-Brexit line – points out the weaknesses of medical device regulation in the EU.
NHS workers must remain vigilant
1 October 2018
In June the government asked NHS England to make a 10-year plan, and guaranteed real funding increases over the next 5 years. NHS workers must remain vigilant to take advantage of the opportunity to repair damage done to the service.
Child health: teachers helping out
The hygiene levels of a growing number of primary schoolchildren are so bad that teachers are having to provide basic items of personal hygiene to large numbers of them, says a charity.
Unison accepts NHS pay agreement
Members of Unison, the largest union in the NHS, have voted overwhelmingly to accept the latest pay agreement.
NHS staff consider pay offer
It’s bad enough that the NHS has been lagging behind inflation for seven years but take the rise in travel costs, accommodation and food into account and the gap between the pay “rise” and RPI becomes even starker.
Health - Avoidable deaths
Across Britain an average of 229 avoidable deaths was recorded for every 100,000 people between 2014 and 2016 – a total of around 138,000 people a year.
Scarlet fever makes a comeback
6 January 2018
The rise in the number of cases of scarlet fever shows no sign of tailing off significantly, with a record 544 cases recorded in England in the week before Christmas.
Carillion on the brink
16 October 2017
Carillion, a British company running construction and facilities management services across the globe, posted a £1.5 billion loss in the first half of 2017. This has been followed by a retreat from outsourced and private contracting across the Middle East, North America and Britain.
Nurses: time to take charge - shorter version
With 40,000 nursing posts vacant in England, it’s time to refocus on the real causes of the staff crisis.
NHS pay battle falters
More and more staff at Barts Health are seeing the importance of protecting Agenda for Change rates…
Doctors seize the opportunity of Brexit to enhance public safety
The General Medical Council has made a timely move to rectify a dangerous situation which exists while we are in the EU.
Hospital driven deep into debt
9 January 2017
The Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley, south London has accumulated the largest hospital debt in the capital – a staggering £62.3 million.
Contractor seeks cleaning redundancies at hospital hit by norovirus
31 December 2016
A week after private provider ISS secured acontract at a Kent hospital, it proposed making 30 cleaners redundant – despite a history of norovirus outbreaks at the hospital.
Use Brexit to improve patient safety, say surgeons
30 December 2016
The Royal College of Surgeons has called on the government to use Brexit to strengthen language testing for overseas doctors and increase the time allocated to medical training.
Why self-sufficiency in health matters
We cannot care for people without planning, and we should stop robbing other nations of skilled workers…
Junior doctors' dispute: the end of the beginning
In dispute for over a year, junior hospital doctors have had to draw back from their planned series of five-day strikes against an unsafe contract. But it’s a protracted struggle…
Air pollution killing Londoners
5 August 2016
Londoners are falling ill and dying because the capital has levels of nitrogen oxides comparable to those of Shanghai and Beijing, according to a new report published in July.
London's largest borough gears up for health fight
29 June 2016
Recent proposals for the borough’s healthcare include putting all health-related community services out to tender and axing student nurses from primary and secondary schools. Resistance may be on the cards
Cancer unit closure blocked
5 May 2016
Trade union Unison has managed to put the closure of a major cancer unit on hold – keeping, for the time being, a vital treatment centre run which serves over a million people.
Junior doctors (picture caption)
Junior doctors demonstrating in Walthamstow, northeast London, on 6 April. As Workers went to press, they were due to walk out again on 26 and 27 April.
Junior hospital doctors’ action continues
14 March 2016
Hospital doctors were on strike again on 9 and 10 March. Picket lines were well populated and supported by the public as action against imposition of the junior hospital doctors’ contract continued.
Hospital doctors’ dispute continues
13 February 2016
The strike by junior doctors on Wednesday 10 February was met by government bluster as health secretary Jeremy Hunt threatened to impose the new terms. The BMA says this action represents total failure by the government.
Doctors on the picket lines
12 January 2016
As junior doctors embarked on their first day of strike action against the government’s proposed new contract, CPBML News visited picket lines in London and Yorkshire.
Sick of capitalism
New research from the worlds leading authority on health inequalities highlights the links between inequity in society, poverty and ill health.
Student nurses and midwives in bursary protest
2 December 2015
War abroad, war at home. As parliament was debating the bombing of Syria, less than 100 yards up Whitehall student nurses and midwives were standing outside the Department of Health in a loud and lively protest against plans to scrap their bursaries.
Doctors show the way
27 November 2015
Junior doctors have forced health secretary Jeremy Hunt to go to Acas without precondition, which he said could not happen. The threat of industrial action starting on 1 December still stands, although withdrawal of labour is very difficult for junior doctors.