Mário André Macedo, a specialist nurse and one of the first signatories of the letter, told People’s Health Dispatch that their initiative was inspired by both solidarity and a pressing need to point out the shortcomings that could bring the Portuguese public health service to its knees. In fact, the health system in Portugal shares a lot of similarities with the NHS, being itself inspired by the Beveridge model introduced in the UK.
The health system in Portugal, just like the NHS, has been an object of interest for the private sector for a very long time. In both cases, the goal of the private providers is to break down the systems, privatize the profitable parts, and leave what remains to a shrunken public budget. The main losers in this scenario are, of course, the poor and the working class, who have no alternative but to seek care in the public sector, no matter its state.
According to Macedo, “As health workers, we should protect the universal character of our health system. And since nurses are the most numerous group inside this system, we have the opportunity to make a particular impact.” The nurses’ intention is to push for change at the local level, but also to build stronger relations with their counterparts in other countries. “We can only win if we stand in solidarity and learn from each other.” concludes Macedo.
WHICH WAY NOW FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM?
A proposed anti-strike law is a “symbol” that ministers are losing the argument, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said after they vowed to press ahead with the imposition of “minimum safety levels.” Amid increasing industrial action in the transport, education and health sectors, the UK government announced on Thursday that it would introduce new legislation to minimise disruption during strikes.
Under the proposed legislation, there would be minimum safety levels for fire, ambulance and rail services, with the government promising to consult on the “adequate level of coverage.”
Mr Lynch said the Bill, which will be introduced in Parliament in the coming weeks, amounts to a threat to sack union members if they refuse to go to work. “They are going to conscript our members,” he said.
A government source confirmed to the Times that striking workers who defied the rules could face dismissal for breach of contract.
NURSES DEMAND BETTER, SAFER NHS
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen argued that safe staffing levels were something that her union was calling for all year round, not just in “extreme circumstances.”
On 21 of December, in the cold and busy period leading up to Christmas, 1,600 Unite ambulance workers went out on strike.
Pay is a key question when it comes to the future of the NHS. One Unite member in the West Midlands highlighted the NHS is in crisis partly because the pay is so low, meaning recruitment and retention is falling.
Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, highlighted this as well when commenting on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s New Year’s speech: “He knows that the suppression of pay has led to the unsafe and unsustainable staffing levels at the heart of the NHS crisis.”
According to Socialist Appeal, the situation is so dire that in some ambulance stations they have resorted to opening food banks for the staff. Graham has elsewhere described these strikes as “the fight of our lives for the very NHS itself”.
.jpg)
0 Comments