Calls for better working conditions to mark 73rd anniversary of NHS
Protests are taking place across Norfolk and Suffolk today.
Protestors in Norfolk and Suffolk are among those taking part in national calls for better working conditions for NHS staff, on what is the service's 73rd birthday.
Today (Saturday 3rd July) marks the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the NHS, and people are taking to the streets for an annual protest demanding:
• Pay justice for all workers
• Patient safety
• End to the privatisation of the NHS
Those involved are hoping to re-establish the NHS back to what the service was originally intended for, ‘putting people before profit’.
With many stating the NHS is for the people and doesn’t belong to the government and government officials.
Events are taking place all over the country including in: Norwich, Cromer, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, and Lowestoft.
A key message from the protesters is that they want to love and celebrate the NHS.
Previous protests have seen NHS staff campaign for a 15% pay rise from the government and after receiving just 1%, many individuals feels let down, especially after the extreme conditions the NHS were put under during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Front Line Mental Health Liaison Nurse Julie told us why she feels let down by the government: “Most nurses these days are degree qualified, highly skilled and continue to update their skills as a requirement of our registration. Gone are the days where nurses just did as doctors instructed, we are qualified clinicians and practitioners.
"Yes it is a career you are passionate about and are prepared to give 110%, but that work should be acknowledged...
"...how it is right that in some areas Band 5 nurses are having to use food banks?
"For so many years we had pay freezes, then the pay reward given a few years ago wasn’t as good as it should have been, why is it acceptable that nurses and health care workers are valued highly but remain underpaid?”
Front Line NHS worker, Lina Hogan told us why it is so important for people to attend the protests: “Throughout the pandemic and prior I’ve just been angry, I’m really, really angry, I’m desperate for change, my colleagues are desperate for change.
"I just want to call upon everybody to really look at the facts, look at the page on facebook and find out what’s really going on.
"If you want to know the truth and want to speak to the front line staff that have been there and find out what has been happening with our pay and the conditions that we are forced to work in, then just go and find out for yourself and join us please”.
Response from Government
A spokesperson from the Department for Health and Social Care sent us this response when we put the calls of the protestors to them:
"The NHS is not and never will be for sale to the private sector, whether overseas or domestic. The NHS will always be free at the point of use and no one will ever be excluded from treatment because of the cost.
"This year, the government has committed to providing NHS staff with a pay uplift at a time when uplifts in the wider public sector have been paused. In doing so, the government is acknowledging the extraordinary work of NHS staff through the pandemic."
"The government has done a significant amount of work to improve patient safety and this continues to be a key priority for the NHS. We recognise that more can be done so that treatment and care are always provided to the safest possible standard.
"This is reflected by the implementation of a ten-year NHS Patient Safety Strategy and the establishment this year of a new patient safety programme board to provide coordination and monitoring of improvements in patient safety and response to harm across the NHS."