- Conference
- Date
- June 16, 2017
- Decision
Conference believes that our National Health Service is at breaking point. On the backdrop of continued cuts and closures, private companies seek to gain even more of a foothold within the NHS.
Continued pay restraint has seen the value of NHS staff salaries reduce by 14% since 2010 and there are now 25,000 nursing and 3,500 midwifery vacancies in the NHS in England alone.
The Government’s and NHS England’s plans for £22 billion of savings represent a real risk to the safety of patients and the service.
Conference opposes the impact of the Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) which (amongst other things) are aimed at reducing beds in the acute sector with no realistic plan to provide the necessary funding to provide necessary community services, close or downgrade Accident and Emergency Departments, cut staffing levels, merge (so-called) back-office functions and extend privatisation.
The NHS is the greatest achievement of the trade union and labour movement. Conference believes that we cannot allow our NHS to be undermined and ultimately destroyed.
Conference calls on the National Executive Council to support a co-ordinated campaign (by the appropriate bodies in UNISON) in England to oppose the consequences for staff of the STPs.
South Derbyshire Healthcare
NEC POLICY: SUPPORT AND AMEND
35.1
In the final paragraph after “oppose” replace the rest of the wording with the following: “those STPs that will create damaging consequences for staff, services and patients, which includes out-sourcing and privatisation.”
National Executive Council