“SOS NHS”
Information about the national coalition “SOS NHS”:
“SOS NHS” – OUR DEMANDS NATIONALLY:
> Approve emergency funding of £20 billion to save lives this winter
> Invest in a fully publicly owned NHS & guarantee free healthcare for future generations
> Pay staff properly: without fair pay, staffing shortages will cost lives
“SOS NHS” is a new national coalition of campaign groups, trade unions, organisations and individuals. So far, the “SOS NHS” campaign is backed by Keep Our NHS Public, Health Campaigns Together, People’s Assembly Against Austerity, Unite the Union, GMB, We Own It, NHS Support Federation, NHS Workers Say No, NHS Staff Voices, Doctors in Unite, Doctors for the NHS, UNISON, BFAWU, National Pensioners Convention, NHS Million, Migrants Organise, Green Party Trade Union Group, TSSA, National Education Union, PCS, SHA, NASUWT The Teachers Union, Medact, CWU, NUJ, Nurses United, RMT, Royal College of Midwives, Doctors Association, and more.
WE SPEAK AS ONE VOICE: To save lives, we need emergency funds now to make up for an annual deficit of around £35bn. We must recruit and retain more frontline staff and pay them properly. In the future, we need a return to a fully publicly funded and provided national health service, protected from private companies who put profit before patients.
In addition to the three initial demands (above), the 2022 SOS NHS Conference introduced a proposal for the following extended demands:
1. EMERGENCY AND LONG-TERM FUNDING
• Abandon the £12bn planned ‘savings’ and increase budgets to take into account inflation and pay rises; an immediate £20bn down payment is needed to start addressing urgently needed remedial interventions
• Invest in a fully publicly owned NHS and guarantee free health care for future generations
2. LOOK AFTER NHS AND CARE STAFF
• Substantial pay rise for NHS staff as negotiated by their unions
• Make life better for staff, e.g. by provision of free car parking, access to hot meals and rest facilities; child care facilities at work; flexible working; subsidised accommodation
Recruitment and retention
• Government to publish an annual workforce plan based on projected needs of population for health and care
• Bursaries for those training in health care (including allied health professionals) and payment of tuition fees where this is relevant
• Recruitment of staff from overseas to be underpinned by ethical principles, ensuring there is no loss of pay or inferior working conditions
• End visa charges and health surcharge for overseas staff, and give them the right to become British citizens
• Change pension rules to retain experienced NHS staff and remove barriers to retirees returning to work
• An immediate and urgent recruitment campaign to fill the 130,000 vacancies
Social care
• Social care free at the point of use, publicly funded and provided; radically reimagined and co-produced with service users, carers, workers and local communities
• Provide care workers with pay and conditions that reflect their high value and skills; minimum wage of £15/hr; training and career structure, with an immediate cost of living pay rise and for pay to be linked to inflation
3. BEDS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
• Increase inpatient beds based on assessment of population need and towards average bed/population ratio in comparable countries
• Urgent funding to reopen theatres, repair NHS buildings and replace old equipment
4. GENERAL PRACTICE
• Increase GP numbers by at least 6,000 together with 26,000 more practice nurses and receptionists
• Support general practice and stop the negative briefings against GPs; recognise the importance to patients and GPs of continuity of care
• Invest in upgrading GP premises
• Additional funding to be given to deprived communities and for preventive care and promoting population health
5. MENTAL HEALTH
• Mental health services should have parity of funding with those for physical illnesses
• Massive increases in NHS beds and staffing are necessary if demand for services is going to be met. This requires substantially more investment than has so far been forthcoming, especially in community based preventive services
6. PANDEMIC PLANNING
• The UK Covid-19 Inquiry must be fully transparent and independent of government bias
• Rebuild strong public health structures to be in place for dealing effectivelywith the current pandemic and in anticipation of the next
• To reduce risk of spread of infection, public health measures known to be effective must be promoted in addition to vaccination
• The principle of vaccine equity must be advanced both in the UK and on the international stage
7. DENTISTRY
• We demand that everyone should have access to an NHS dentist for ongoing care and treatment when needed
8. AN END TO PRIVATISATION
• We demand an end to all forms of NHS privatisation
• Social care must be publicly provided and funded
• Legislate for re-establishing a publicly funded, provided and accountable NHS based on its founding principles
9. REMEMBERING AND LEARNING FROM COVID
• Mourn those who have died from COVID-19 by maintaining the current memorial wall, establish both a new bank holiday and a monument to health and other key workers who have died, and educate our children about this pandemic and the lessons to be learned
• To incorporate the main findings of the KONP Covid Enquiry into current and future NHS practice
>>>> Click here for more info about these extended demands
>>>> For more info about SOS NHS, click here
>>>> To join in with SOS NHS and to find out what you can do to help, click here
>>>> And click here to read the article about the Campaign (The Lowdown, 19th January 2022)
===============
“SOS NHS” Events
>>>> SOS NHS supports NHS staff on strike
===============
>>>> SOS NHS National Demonstration – Saturday 11th March 2023, London
SOS NHS NATIONAL DEMO: ACT NOW TO SAVE OUR NHS!
The Government is quick to blame everyone and everything but themselves for the current crisis they have created in our NHS. Health Secretary, Steve Barclay told already exhausted NHS staff to work even harder if they want a pay rise. We believe it is the Government that should be working harder to fix a crisis caused by 13 years of its mismanagement.
We stand with all NHS staff forced to take strike action in order to protect the service from further damage and demand the Government changes course and finds the will to do what’s right for both staff and patients.
WE DEMAND THE GOVERNMENT FIXES THE CRISIS IN OUR NHS
CLICK HERE
for more info on the SOS NHS campaign page
&
CLICK HERE
for more info on the facebook event page
===============
>>>> National Day of Action: The NHS Crisis is a Crisis of Government – 28th January 2023
Grey’s Monument, Newcastle-upon-Tyne