Better pay, safer staffing and fully funded training pledged at health conference

A Labour government would scrap the 1% health cap, keep the NHS bursary and legislate for save staffing levels, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth told UNISON health workers today.
Speaking on the final day of union’s health conference in Liverpool, the Labour front bencher launched his party’s three-point pledge – better pay, safer staffing and fully funded training.
Mr Ashworth thanked the full range of health care workers “for your dedication, self-sacrifice, the extraordinary effort every day which is often, literally, the difference between life and death.”
But under the Conservative government, he said, “you are ignored, insulted, under-valued, overworked, underpaid.”
A Labour government would scrap the 1% pay cap that has been at the top of so many debates in Liverpool this week, he told delegates.
It would also reintroducethe NHS bursary, which the current government intends to replace with tuition fees this autumn – are already helping to create a critical nursing shortage.
And it will legislate to ensure legally enforced safe staffing levels, another key UNISON issue.
In a speech that won a standing ovation, Mr Ashworth said that Labour’s desire was “not for the basic health service, but for the very best health service.”
In contrast, he said that Prime Minister Theresa May was failing to acknowledge the “Tory-manufactured NHS crisis” that was leaving the service “over-stretched, under-staffed and under threat.”
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Source: UNISON Health care news - April 26, 2017 Category: UK Health Authors: Tony Braisby Tags: News general election 2017 health health care health conference 2017 health pay NHS NHS bursary safe staffing Source Type: news