9th November 2022

Nurses vote to strike
“It’s time to pay nursing staff fairly” is their slogan, and it certainly is! A historic “yes” vote was recorded by the Royal College of Nursing in their fight for fair pay and safe staffing. Strikes will take place before the end of the year at hospitals where legal requirements have been met.

Why the need for agency staff?
NHS data suggests every integrated care system is set to bust the cap placed on their agency spending, many by over 50 per cent. Who is responsible for the shortfall trained NHS staff, leading to the need  to employ agency staff?

Government loses fight to keep Covid lessons secret
The government has backed down in its fight to keep secret a “lessons learnt” review of the Covid pandemic.

Private cleaning firm given the sack
An acute trust has publicly accused its cleaning contractor of failing to meet nationally set cleaning standards, and said this has contributed to a “large spike” in hospital-acquired infections.

Historic change of ideology for running the NHS?
It seems they’ve seen the light. NHS supplies will be handled by …..the NHS Supply Chain. Whereas the procurement of many products was managed by outside organisations, the revised plans will bring the purchasing of all clinical products in-house. All we now need is the common sense realisation that, for high quality comprehensive health services, public provision minimses administration costs and health outcomes more effective.