The war of words around the #Doctors #strike reaches a new low with #SteveBarclay acusing striking consultants of withholding #cancer treatments;
But, as Dr Vishal Sharma (BMA) observes: it was “incredibly rich of the secretary of state to invoke time-critical procedures when his government has overseen a steep increase in waiting lists that saw them reach record levels even before any strike action took place”.
Its the #Tories that have caused the #NHScrisis not the doctors!
On Wednesday, the #NHS #strikes reach a crescendo with the two separate #Doctors walk-outs dovetailing so all doctors are out on strike.
I know I keep saying this, but its worth repeating.
The #Tories are not only engineering the general #NHScrisis they are goading the Doctors into continued action, to serve the political Tories narrative...
Don't be taken in... this balme for these strikes lies with the Govt.
Ramping up pressure on the #Tories over the #NHScrisis, consultants are staging a 3 day walkout during the #Tory conference.
This follows the 2 day strike starting today & further #strike action in October.
As Ministers & MPs go on news programmes to express their 'disappointment' in the action(s) & claim their offer to the BMA is 'reasonable'...
ask yourself, who do you trust more: #politicians or #doctors?
This is a crisis engineered in Westminster!
Lorna Miller (Guardian) on the #radiographers' ability to see through the pious words spouted by #RishiSunak...
Healthwatch England concludes that the continuing #NHS #strikes compounded an already severe issue of #patients waiting for treatment & its impact on wellbeing.
Indeed, while in the short-term they are right this may make things worse, lets not forget that political pressure (short of striking) has had little impact on the #Tories defunding of the NHS which is a direct cause of delays.
This is a battle for the health of our country.
In just over an hour the #NHS #radiographers start their #strike.
I know I keep saying this, but if in the next couple of days your #treatment is delayed due to their action, please remember no-one in the NHS wants to harm #patients.
The strikers have been backed into a corner by an aggressive policy of defunding the NHS carried out by a party contemptuous of our #HealthService!
Lay this at the #Tories door and...
Following the current #JuniorDoctors strike (yes, I know JDs are misnamed, they're a lot more mature than 'juniors' & have more responsibility), the #Consultants strike last next week will make it a pretty full spectrum of #NHS staff taking strike action....
What is there not to understand?
The #healthservice needs proper funding, well-paid/happy staff (with reasonable conditions) and an an end to the endless budgetary attrition from the #tories.
Today the latest strike by #JuniorDoctors starts;
a lot of people will be angry about the disruption to the #NHS.
Don't blame the doctors; they've been pushed by the #Tory wreckers until this seems like their only option.
If you need to blame someone for your cancelled consultation, or delayed operation, then make sure you blame the #Tories!
This strike (as with the #nurses previous action) is a direct result of an #NHScrisis caused by Tory defunding!
In advance of the #JuniorDoctors' strike, we need to be clear what is going on here.
A group of #health professionals have been pushed & pushed until they see no alternative but to strike; while a Govt. that is trying to find ways of distracting us from what is really going on will seek to blame the #strikers for the disruption.
So:
The #Tories have engineered the #NHScrisis, of which these strikes are merely a symptom.
#SupportTheStrikes
#supportourNHS
#GTTO
& revive of #healthservice
@ChrisMayLA6
Yes!
These are the people we clapped for
...who we celebrated in the Olympic opening ceremony
...who had record low wait times and high approvals (until the Tories)
#ToriesUnfitToGovern
#SupportTheStrikes
#supportourNHS #SaveTheNHS
As we head towards a(nother) #JuniorDoctors #strike... once again its worth emphasising that this is a strike that has been directly caused by the #Tories defunding of the #NHS, their callous attitude to the well-being of others & their strategy of driving (rich-enough) #patients into the arms of private #healthcare.
If #RishiSunak or #SteveBarclay actually wanted to reach a deal with the BMA/Junior Doctors they could, but they are choosing not to.
“Them as can do, has to do for them as can’t. And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”
Terry Pratchett; The Wee Free Men
#DiscWorld #InternationalNursesDay #SupportOurNurses #SupportOurNHS 💙😷💙
Very clearly #SteveBarclay is hoping the #NHSStaffCouncil meeting tomorrow will vote in favour of the middling & (at least partly) unfunded pay deal on the table, leaving the RCN & Unite isolated in their continuing #strikes... so lets hope the other #unions recognise this as the divide & rule tactic always used by bullying management and find some way to accord with their members' voting without leaving the RCN & Unite exposed.
How can #SteveBarclay accuse the #RCN of being 'disrespectful' to other #NHS unions by continuing their strike action.... he, from a Govt. that has shown the NHS a distinct lack of respect for years - the gall of it!
Two charts for context in the current #workforce crisis in the #NHS - unsurprisingly if you dramatically reduce the real pay of your staff, they look elsewhere for work.
The mechanics of the #Tory defunding of the NHS laid bare.
The wreckers have been at work for some time & repairing the NHS will be a generational task - there will be no quick-fixed for Labour to push through, other than starting by restoring funding levels, of course!
Pat Cullen of the RCN on today's high court victory by #SteveBarclay in declaring the next #Nurses stoppage illegal on the basis that second day was beyond the period of the last strike ballot:
They may 'have won their legal battle . . . they have lost nursing & they’ve lost the public'!
Absolutely right!
But actually they never had me!
Since 2017, 147 #Education & #Healthcare workers have died from #mesothelioma (caused by #asbestos):
what this tells us is that the defunding of these sectors, robbing maintenance budgets to keep things going, is having a fatal impact on the sectors' #workers.
Failure to remove asbestos from #schools & #hospitals is killing the staff.
not only won't the #Tories pay health/teaching staff properly they've engineered a situation that kills them at work.
From Guardian letters:
'Perhaps the striking doctors would settle for the 32% increase MPs have received since 2010'!
Dr John Doherty
Stratford-upon-Avon
A #JuniorDoctor speaks:
'We need the government to recognise the crisis that’s happening in our healthcare system; recognise that junior doctors are instrumental to fixing that crisis; and pay us what we’re worth'!
#supportourNHS #SupportTheStrikes
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/11/junior-doctors-strike-pay-nhs-corridors
