AT A GLANCE:
(then scroll lower down this page for detailed information)
1: Our sincere thanks go to all NHS and Social Care staff
2: NHS Strike Resources
3: It’s Time We Look After Them
4: Doctors (British Medical Association) strike action: 20th – 22nd December 2023 and 3rd – 8th January 2024
5: Ambulance Workers (GMB, Unite, Unison)
6: Nurses (Royal College of Nursing)
7: Physiotherapy (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy)
8: The Government are running scared – PROTECT THE RIGHT TO STRIKE
9: Physician Associates
10: Recent campaign activity in the North East re NHS workforce: Support to Jnr Doc picket line, RVI, 3.1.24 | Thank You to all NHS Staff 23.12.23 | May Day March and Rally 29.4.23 | Petition: Our staff deserve better Jan 2023 | Petition: Protect the Right to Strike Jan 2023 | Doctors Strike Demo 14.4.23 | Protect the Right to Strike 18.2.23 | RCN Picket line 6.2.23 | Protect the Right to Strike 1.2.23 | Christmas Day 25.12.22 | Thank You to all in General Practice 23.12.22 | Thank You to Sunderland Royal NHS Staff 21.12.22 | RCN Strike Day 20.12.22 | Thank You North Tyneside General 18.12.22 | North Shields Rally 2 for NHS Staff 17.12.22 | Thank You to Freeman Hospital NHS Staff 17.12.22 | RCN Strike Day 15.12.22 | Thank You to Durham NHS Staff 14.12.22 | North Shields Rally 1 10.12.22
11: Links
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May 2025: Five things to know about NHS SubCos in 2025 and why they should be resisted
SubCos (wholly-owned subsidiary companies) are private companies, set up by NHS Trusts – and they’re sadly back on the agenda.
Contracts take NHS workers out of the NHS, with inferior T&Cs against their will, and must be opposed.
FIND OUT MORE HERE: https://keepournhspublic.com/resisting-subcos/
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Our sincere thanks go to all NHS and social care staff
Our staff deserve better – as a starter, the following needs to be done:
NHS 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 STAFF
• Social care to be 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
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
MENTAL HEALTH
• 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
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.
From 2022 SOS NHS Conference – click here for info
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May 2024: This is why our health secretary can’t just hide under the table and hope it’ll all go away. If govt refuse to pay people properly and treat them well, they’ll continue to vote with their feet until we have no NHS left.
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2:
NHS Strike Resources
Download the KONP “Stand with NHS Staff” leaflet (print off and share)
National KONP website page “NHS Strikes and Solidarity” (resources and links)
Strike Calendar – giving updates and dates of past and current strikes
Interactive StrikeMap, giving details of all current strikes in the UK
Join KONPNE in demonstrating our solidarity and support to the NHS staff on the picket lines – information is here plus scroll down this page for photos.
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4:
Junior Doctors (British Medical Association) strike action
Wednesday 17th December 2025 – Alongside Resident Doctors at the RVI, Newcastle
For fair pay, jobs and for the future of our NHS….
Rather than demonise doctors and feign outrage over staff taking industrial action, this Government should reflect on its own role in the current disastrous state of the NHS – including the Governments responsibility for the thousands of people dying each year after being stuck in the corridors of A&E departments.
Progress will only be made through investment in our NHS. Desperately hoping that a solution lies in focusing on prevention, technology and a shift to community care does not alter this reality.
KONPNE stands with NHS staff.
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Friday 14th November 2025 – Solidarity: We stand with resident doctors fighting for pay restoration and job prospects
Chilly day, warm reception and a good turn out supporting Resident Doctors on the picket line outside the RVI, Newcastle upon Tyne. it is not rocket science. We need to invest in the NHS as an organisation (which includes investing in all NHS staff) and we’ll have a well functioning NHS that serves the population well.
The dispute with Resident Doctors will only end after meaningful discussions between Wes Streeting and RD representatives. Fixing pay, addressing morale by improving working conditions and filling staff vacancies require necessary investment and are essential for a more resilient and healthier future service. KONP stands in solidarity with striking RD and all NHS staff and urges Streeting to enter into negotiations with RD in good faith – an important step in rebuilding the NHS.
CLICK HERE
for the full statement from KONP
RVI, Newcastle upon Tyne, 14th November 2025
***STRIKE DATES ANNOUNCEMENT***
Junior doctors in England to take further #PayRestoration industrial action. The first strike action will take place from 7am on 20 December to 7am on 23 December. The second will take place from 7am on 3 January until 7am on 9 January.
RVI, Newcastle: 8.30am – 12 noon on Wednesday 3rd January 2024
Important to support the Junior Doctors on the picket line this morning – KONPNE stands in full solidarity with all Junior Doctors who, for the next six days, are fighting not only for fair pay, but for the safety of us all and the future of our NHS.
CLICK HERE
for the article in todays Chronicle: “Striking junior doctors in Newcastle say they will resume talks – but pay offer must improve“ (incls statement from Dr Helen Groom, KONPNE)
and
CLICK HERE
for the article in the Guardian re RVI, Newcastle picket line: “Cheers and sadness on junior doctors’ picket line”
*****Update:
Against the backdrop of a hugely understaffed and under-resourced health service, junior doctors and consultants have seen their pay drop in real terms by over a third in the past 15 years. The Government continues to refuse to even enter talks with either group to try to bring an end to the disputes.
With a turnout of 71.25% and 43,440 (or 98.37%) junior doctors voting to continue industrial action, their re-ballot has renewed their mandate for industrial action for another six months.
Junior doctor committee co-chairs Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said:
“Today, junior doctors across England are sending a single message, loud and clear to the Government: we are not going anywhere. We are prepared to continue with our industrial action, but we don’t have to – the Prime Minister has the power to halt any further action by making us a credible offer that we can put to our members. Refusing to negotiate with us and with our consultant colleagues is not the way ahead.
“Rishi Sunak now has nowhere to hide. There can be no more delaying, no more wasting time with impositions of pay deals, no more declarations that strikes must end before even stepping in the room with us. If he does not come to the table with a credible offer on pay, he will face another six months of strike action. And another six months after, and after that, if he continues to ignore us. He knows the stakes, he knows our ask, and now he knows our resolve. The Prime Minister faces a profession united in its determination to address pay erosion. Consultants and junior doctors stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity after months of facing the same inflexibility from Government.
“Managing the strikes has already cost the Government in the region of £1 billion, and that figure – which is what it would cost to settle the junior doctors’ dispute – will continue to rise until the Government makes a credible offer to end the strike action. Surely now the Government must understand that it cannot continue down this self-defeating road. We have a mandate for six months more strike action, but they can make it much shorter – even a few days – if the Prime Minister was to simply come to the table.”
BMA consultants committee chair Dr Vishal Sharma said:
“Junior doctors and consultants walk the same wards, look after the same patients in an underfunded and poorly staffed NHS. It is becoming ever clearer that this Government does not value us or our work and nor does it really value patient care.
“If the Government was in any doubt about doctors’ shared determination to reverse the crisis the NHS is in, to help keep the staff we have and address their pay erosion, today will surely dispel it. Never before have NHS consultants and junior doctors been forced to strike together for days on end, but that is where we have been brought by this Government. They must act to address our pay erosion, so that the NHS is able to train the doctors that we currently have, and to ensure that we have enough consultants to train the senior doctors of the future.
“It is only by cooperating with doctors that the Government has a chance of addressing the recruitment and retention crisis the NHS workforce is suffering. Now, facing the prospect of six months’ more action, including days of both junior and consultant walkouts, surely the severity of the situation with doctors’ pay could not be clearer?
“Our message is simple: work with us, negotiate with us both and we can look forward not to months of more walkouts but instead to a bigger, better-valued and more effective medical workforce fit for the future.”
The above quotes are from the BMA here
Click here for information about the above strike actions.
Past actions: 13 – 15th March 2023, 11th – 15th April 2023, 14 -17th June 2023, 13th – 18th July 2023, 20 – 22 September 2023, 2 – 4 October 2023, 20th – 22nd December 2023, 3rd – 8th January 2024
*****
Please watch this short video from Leeds – explains why the Jnr Drs are currently taking strike action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA23wwcQTjY
The results of a ballot of the BMA’s junior doctor members revealed that 98 per cent of votes endorsed calls for industrial action, based on a turnout of 77.49 per cent.
The result represents a huge mandate for strike action and is the highest ever number of junior doctors voting for strike action, and a record turnout.
The BMA has been campaigning for full pay restoration with junior doctors having experienced a 26 per cent real-terms pay cut since 2008 amid a cost-of-living crisis and spiralling working conditions in the NHS. This year, the Government gave junior doctors a 2% pay uplift, which the BMA says amounts to a 10% real-terms pay cut when soaring inflation is taken into account. The association said this means junior doctors are working more than a month for ‘free’ this year and that the Government has ignored all requests to meet with junior doctor representatives to discuss options.
It is ‘deeply concerned that ongoing pay erosion will continue to drive doctors out of the profession, leading to a vicious cycle of dwindling staff numbers and worsening patient care’.
July 2023: Co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors committee, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said: “We are announcing the longest single walkout by doctors in the NHS’s history – but this is not a record that needs to go into the history books. Even now the government can avert our action by coming to the table with a credible offer on pay restoration. The NHS is one of this country’s proudest achievements and it is shameful that we have a government seemingly content to let it decline to the point of collapse with decades of real-terms pay cuts to doctors driving them away”.
Click here
https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/junior-doctors-vote-yes-to-industrial-action
https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/bma-sets-ballot-date-for-industrial-action
https://www.bma.org.uk/our-campaigns/junior-doctor-campaigns/pay/junior-doctors-strike-doctors-guide-to-industrial-action-2023
Click here for a report from the Chronicle (11th April 2023)
Click here for a report from the Chronicle (13th March 2023)
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5:
Ambulance workers (GMB, Unite, Unison) strike action
Past actions: 21st December 2022, 11th and 23rd January 2023, 6th and 20th February 2023, 6th and 20th March 2023
*****Update:
Unions have voted to accept the government’s pay offer for staff. This offer gives NHS workers a one-off payment and a 5% pay rise for the coming year.
*****
More than 10,000 ambulance workers have voted to strike across nine trusts in England and Wales. Paramedics, Emergency Care Assistants, call handlers and other staff are now set to walk out. Workers across the ambulance services and some NHS Trusts have voted to strike over the Government’s imposed 4 per cent pay award – another massive real terms pay cut.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said:
“Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees. Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced twelve years Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, fought on the frontline of a global pandemic and now face the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. No one in the NHS takes strike action lightly – today shows just how desperate they are. This is as much about unsafe staffing levels and patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient.
Something has to change or the service as we know it will collapse. GMB calls on the Government to avoid a Winter of NHS strikes by negotiating a pay award that these workers deserve.”
Click here for the GMB poster
Click here for the Unite poster
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Nurses (Royal College of Nursing) Strike Action
See photos and reports in part 9, below.
Past actions: Thursday 15th and Tuesday 20th December 2022, Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th January 2023, Monday 6th February and Tuesday 7th February 2023, Morning of Wednesday 1st March to morning of Friday 3rd March, 30th April 2023
*****Update:
On 2nd May 2023, an NHS Staff Council meeting involving employers and all health unions confirmed that the pay offer for NHS staff in England was accepted by the majority of unions despite the RCN’s vote to reject. It will therefore be implemented by the UK government. The RCN voted to reject it formally and to stay in dispute with the government. A ballot of RCN members is planned.
The results of the RCN ballot were announced on 27th June 2023. 122,000 members voted with 84 per cent in favour of strike action, but on a 43.4 per cent of the turnout, meaning it did not surpass the legal threshold for action. Pat Cullen, Head of the RCN stated that the RCN will continue to put pressure on the Government to “deliver fair pay for nursing in the NHS in England” and that the campaign is “far from over”.
Click here
*****
Messaging Guide to the Nurses Pay Dispute (principles, core message, stats)
The LowDown Nurses’ and paramedics’ pay fact sheet
The RCN nurses are striking for their pay, our health, and the future of #OURNHS
Their struggle for pay justice is right at the heart of the huge problems facing our NHS services. If we cannot win better pay and conditions for NHS staff, the staffing shortage crisis will only get worse. The worse the crisis, the more enabled the Government will feel to ‘rescue’ the NHS with increasing private sector involvement.
Gay Lee writes:
“Nurses need better pay. Nurses are resorting to foodbanks and are being forced to decide whether to eat or heat. Health Care Assistants and Band 5 nurses form the bulk of the workforce and they are the worst paid.
We need to train more nurses and retain more nurses
Inexperienced nurses rely on experienced colleagues – the very ones who are leaving or taking early retirement. Working conditions are so bad that the workforce is losing more staff than are joining
Still no plan for the NHS workforce
The Government had a chance to do something about pay. They could have agreed to a legally binding and funded workforce strategy when passing the Health and Care Act earlier this year. They refused this opportunity but it’s the only long-term solution. However one quick action to help retain nurses and immediately alleviate this nursing crisis is to sort out the pay dispute. And the only way to do this appears to be to strike because the government is not listening to anything else.
Safe care for patients
Nurses have a duty to keep patients safe and they want and try to, but are unable because of lack of funding and poor staffing levels. Daily we hear stories in the media of patients dying because of lack of beds, scanners, ambulances… and staff.”
Many thanks to RCN and KONP member Gay Lee for the above points. Read the full article on the national KONP website here.
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7:
NHS Physiotherapy staff (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy) strike action:
Past actions: 26 January and 9 February 2023
*****Update:
27th April – A pay offer was approved by members of the British NHS Staff Association (CSP) in a vote. Alongside the increase of five per cent for 2023/24, the offer was recommended by the CSP’s pay sub-group of members as the best achievable through negotiation.
*****
“We know taking strike action is an absolute last resort for CSP members, but NHS staff not only deserve better pay but also desperately need it during this cost of living crisis. This dispute will protect patient services both now and into the future, and it’s essential that the government comes up with an improved offer to avert further strikes and demonstrate they understand the scale of the problem”.
CLAIRE SULLIVAN, CSP DIRECTOR OF EMPLOYER RELATIONS AND UNION SERVICES
Click here for more info
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The Government are running scared
PROTECT THE RIGHT TO STRIKE
Crucial that we are joining together to show our teachers, firefighters, civil servants, rail workers, NHS workers and countless others that we support their action to defend pay, jobs and services. A clear message is being sent to the government that we will not be ignored….and their panic response is to try to stifle our voices….the Government are running scared.
If we want a NHS, then we need to support the NHS Strike actions….and we also need to protect the right to strike.
Scroll down to see pix from the Newcastle Right to Strike demo in Newcastle (1st February 2023)
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Physician Associates
Started in 2009, there are plans to expand this controversial initiative. Are they doctors on the cheap or valued team members?
CLICK HERE
to read the article by KONP Co-Chair Dr John Puntis…..
also:
Bylines Scotland (26th March 2024) Physician Associates: the hidden agenda
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10:
Recent campaign activity in the North East re NHS workforce
Wednesday 3rd January 2024 – Support to Jnr Doc picket line, RVI, Newcastle
Important to support the Junior Doctors on the picket line this morning – KONPNE stands in full solidarity with all Junior Doctors who, for the next six days, are fighting not only for fair pay, but for the safety of us all and the future of our NHS.
CLICK HERE
for the article in todays Chronicle: “Striking junior doctors in Newcastle say they will resume talks – but pay offer must improve“ (incls statement from Dr Helen Groom, KONPNE)
and
CLICK HERE
for the article in the Guardian re RVI, Newcastle picket line: “Cheers and sadness on junior doctors’ picket line”
Saturday 23rd December 2023 – A sincere THANK YOU to all NHS staff
As we approach the end of the year, there can only be one message to the thousands of NHS staff who work at the many sites and locations, large and small, across the North East: we offer our MASSIVE RESPECT and SINCERE THANKS for all your commitment and care throughout 2023. We know only too well that you work under challenging conditions, and we can never thank you enough.
This week, we’ve posted THANK YOU banners outside ten hospitals across the North East region; wherever you are based, whether at one of these hospitals or at one of the many health centres, clinics or surgeries throughout the region, our SINCERE THANKS go to ALL staff.
We are aware that many people will be at work over the festive period but we hope that you will still be able to have some time to spend with family and friends, and to relax. Please look after yourself.
Thank you
Keep Our NHS Public North East and Keep Our NHS Public Sunderland and District
CLICK HERE
for photos (scroll to 23rd December 2023)
Saturday 29th April 2023 – Tyne and Wear May Day March and Rally
Solidarity from all at KONPNE. May Day reminds us of the importance of collective action – crucial in the past and crucial in 2023 when people are struggling day to day as a result of the cost of living crisis and at a time of savage public sector cuts and pay injustice.
We stand in solidarity with all staff working in the NHS who are striking for fair pay, safe staffing levels and for the future of our NHS.
Angela Robinson, retired nurse, addressed the rally in Newcastle city centre on behalf of KONPNE – many thanks to the May Day Committee for inviting us to speak and for organising.
Late 2022 / early 2023 – Petition
OUR NHS STAFF DESERVE BETTER – THIS “PAY RISE” IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
CLICK HERE
to sign the change.org petition
CLICK HERE
to join “NHS Workers Say NO! to Public Sector pay inequality” facebook group
Late 2022 / early 2023 – Petition
Protect the Right to Strike: Sign the TUC / Megaphone petition
Our right to strike is under attack.
Rishi Sunak has detailed his anti-union legislation and plans to introduce new laws in the coming weeks. It means that when workers democratically vote to strike, they could be forced to work and sacked if they don’t. That’s wrong, unworkable, and almost certainly illegal. These new laws are a direct attack on working people’s fundamental right to strike to defend their pay, terms and conditions.
CLICK HERE
to sign the TUC / Megaphone petition
Friday 14th April 2023 – Huge support for North East Doctors strike demo
No doubt about it – today, as always, the City of Newcastle shows a huge support, good wishes, thanks and solidarity to our North East medics. And some puzzling questions – Where IS Steve Barclay? What IS the Government doing to resolve the pay dispute? Where is the workforce plan? Why aren’t they at the negotiating table? And a clear message to our medics – we are proud of you and we stand alongside you. We stand with all NHS staff who are fighting not only for fair pay, but for the safety of us all and for the future of our NHS. We send solidarity from KONPNE to all public sector workers.
Saturday 18th February 2023 – One Clear Message
Defend the Right to Strike: Newcastle march and rally
Called by Newcastle upon Tyne TUC and Peoples Assembly North East – an impressive range of speakers…..and one clear message
Liz Blackshaw, TUC Northern Regional Secretary: “Defending the right to strike is critical. This Government is not listening – we need a Government that makes sure working people are not sacked for asserting their rights”
Mark Hugall, CWU Newcastle Amalgamated Branch Secretary: “Today we stand together to make a better future for everyone”
Jamie Driscoll, North of Tyne Mayor: “Nurses are taking action for the first time in one hundred years…..they say the public doesn’t support the strikes – but it is the public who are on strike….”
Sarah Dodsworth, Regional Director, RCN Northern, Yorkshire and Humber: “We need to defend the right to strike – we need to make things better for our children and our childrens children”
Miles Elliott, Unison, Ambulance Workers: “Going on strike is a difficult decision as there is an acute staffing crisis and the staff who remain are under more pressure – but the Government response is dereliction of duty”
Simon Elliott, PCS Regional Secretary: “There is a crisis in the civil service. In a survey of members, 40,000 members are using food banks”
Adam Hansen, UCU Northumbria Branch Chair: “Thousands of staff are on zero hour contracts, and many staff work extra hours. Enough is enough……it is important to stand up for our rights, including the right to strike. Stand up, stand proud, stand together”
Alex Snowdon, NEU Regional Chair: “Together we are stronger – when we co-ordinate our actions we are a powerful force”
Jan Shortt, General Secretary, NPC: “We offer our solidarity and support for as long as you need it”
Karen Lockney, North East Peoples Assembly: “We need to fight inequality and hate – the Government are running scared of working people and we will not be silenced. Our ancestors won these rights and they cannot be taken away now”
Jude Letham, Co-ordinator, Keep Our NHS Public North East: “We stand with all NHS staff who are fighting not only for fair pay, but for the safety of us all and for the future of our NHS. It is clear that if you want a NHS, you will need to become a NHS activist. We send solidarity from KONP North East to all public sector workers, and we’ll see you on a picket line soon”
Martin Levy, Tyne and Wear Association of Trades Councils: “One very clear message is given today – we continue to join together to defend our right to strike”
Monday 6th February 2023 – Picket line of strength at Newcastle RVI
A picket line of strength…..and absolutely no doubt that the public are also standing strong and supporting striking nurses at the RVI this morning. Cars, buses, taxi horns a plenty, and many thanks for the sustenance provided by passers by (it was calm, sunny….but damn chilly) and especially to the very kind member of public who parked opposite, set up a trestle table, and invited all to come over for a hot tea / coffee / cuppa soup throughout the day – his one comment: “Nurses were there when I needed you – this is the very least I can do…..”
John Whalley (KONPNE) and Rehana Azam (RCN National Officer) and a very strong picket line at the RVI Newcastle upon Tyne
Members of KONPNE were proud to stand with the RCN and we remember: NHS staff are striking for fairness regarding pay, our health, and the future of #OURNHS
Also great to meet up with long-time KONPNE supporter and fellow activist Rehana Azam, now a national officer with RCN. Rehana: “All of our members here today don’t want to be on a picket line. They are brilliant at their jobs and want to be back on the wards….but we need the Government to listen to what our members are saying. It is not safe on the wards. We need is the Government to invest in the NHS and in the nursing profession.”
We remember Rehana from the Darlo Mums organisation of the 999 Peoples March for the NHS – walking from Jarrow to Parliament in 2014… with music from Billy Bragg in London….
1st February 2023: Protect the Right to Strike: TUC March and Rally – Civic Centre to Grey’s Monument, Newcastle upon Tyne
If you want a NHS, then you need to support the NHS Strike actions….and protect the right to strike.
Amazing scenes at Grey’s Monument today as thousands of people gathered in support of the right to strike – a HUGE march and rally – one of the biggest in Newcastle for a long, long time. Important to march together to show our teachers, firefighters, civil servants, rail workers, NHS workers and countless others that we support their action to defend pay, jobs and services. A clear message was sent to the government that we will not be ignored.
KONPNE were proud to be there and we remember: NHS staff are striking for fairness regarding pay, our health, and the future of #OURNHS
25th December 2022 – Christmas Day card deliveries to Keyworkers
KONPNE outside the Freeman Hospital on Christmas Day – MANY MANY THANKS to all NHS Staff
We all know it – but perhaps we don’t think about it….?
NHS staff provide comprehensive, expert healthcare and support 24 / 7 x 365 cover. All days and all nights, Christmas Day included. Surely THAT is worth saving??
We need to halt the steady erosion of our NHS. Join us with the Campaign in the North East….click here for details of the January meeting.….and, between now and then, wishing you a happy and healthy time at Christmas
KONPNE x
23rd December 2022 – Card deliveries to GP surgeries across the region
Our thanks go to the many health professionals working at GP surgeries across the NE. You are, more often than not, the first port of call and have the superhuman task of managing an ever-increasing patient list and ever-increasing demands at a time of service cuts, closures, staff shortages and slashed funding. We delivered our Thank You cards to a representative number of practices and, to EVERYONE in Primary Care across the region, we offer an unreserved and sincere THANK YOU.
21st December 2022 – Sincere thanks to NHS staff in Sunderland
A busy lunchtime – with the team at KONP Sunderland and District meeting, greeting and providing seasonal Thank You cards to nurses, receptionists, cleaners, physios and emergency response staff at Sunderland Royal. The NHS staff working in Sunderland make an impressive team, and we give our sincere thanks.
20th December 2022 – We Stand with NHS Staff
KONPNE solidarity with @RCNNorthern @theRCN picket at Newcastle RVI and North Tyneside General on the second day of the RCN Strike.
#FairPayforNursing
KONPNE and, indeed, the vast majority of people in the country stand with NHS Staff – it can’t be made any clearer than that.
18th December 2022 – Festive KONPNE at North Tyneside General
This won’t shorten the waiting list, or improve working conditions, or put money in the wage packet – but our KONPNE Christmas Thank You cards for NHS staff are a small way of demonstrating a sincere Thank You, and were very well received by surprised North Tyneside General Hospital staff this morning. A sincere THANK YOU to all NHS staff in North Tyneside.
17th December 2022 – North Shields Rally 2 for NHS Staff
Members of KONPNE were pleased to support and speak at the second in a sequence of two rallies in North Shields supporting the NHS strikes, hosted by the National Shop Stewards Network (NE). All trade unionists, patients & health workers were invited to speak on the open mic.
Craig Thompson, GMB North Tyneside, Assistant Branch Secretary: “This strike is not solely about wages. It is about safety, waiting lists, ambulances, shortage of doctors and nurses. This is a planned route to privatisation and must not happen”
Graeme Cansdale, RMT: “This demoralisation and underfunding is linked with the marketisation of our public services. Profit, the primary motive, is literally killing people”
John Hoare, Unite the Union Not for Profit branch: “The media vilifies anyone who stands up – not just political leaders, but also Union leaders. The National Shop Stewards Network brings together Trade Unionists from across the board, and that is what is now needed”
Caroline Cansdale, Unison North Tyneside: “Social care is an essential part of the picture. There is an need for additional funding”
Jude Letham, Co-ordinator, Keep Our NHS Public North East: “One of the easiest ways to encourage privatisation in the NHS is to underpay and overwork NHS staff. We are standing alongside the nurses on the picket lines”
John Whalley, Keep Our NHS Public North East: “The NHS runs on the goodwill of staff – working longer hours to provide adequate cover, staying on late to write up notes, covering shifts at short notice, facing up to very significant personal risks throughout the recent pandemic. If we’re not careful, this goodwill will be lost forever”
William Jarrett, National Shop Stewards Network, North East: “The NSSN stands in complete solidarity with NHS workers and all workers engaged in industrial action. Our purpose is to link and unite their struggles and to coordinate wherever possible”
Click here for pix
17th December 2022 – 7am: frosty weather and a very warm response at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle
Frosty weather and a warm response – up at 7am to catch the early shift and the departing night shift…. our KONPNE Christmas Thank You cards were very well received by staff at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital. Our sincere thanks go to you for all you have done over the past year.
15th December 2022 – Pay Justice for NHS Staff
Proud to stand alongside nurses and supporters outside the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne this afternoon, and outside North Tyneside General Hospital this evening. The Royal College of Nursing are striking for pay justice AND ALSO for the integrity of our healthcare system and for the future of the NHS. We stand with NHS Staff.
14th December 2022 – A huge Thank You to NHS staff in Durham
What can we say to our NHS staff at the end of the year that was? Or maybe, at times, actions speak louder than words? A Christmas card won’t shorten the waiting list, or improve working conditions, or put money in the wage packet – but it is a small way of demonstrating a sincere Thank You.
KONPNE Santa’s were at the University Hospital of North Durham this lunchtime, and our KONPNE cards were very well received by staff. A sincere Thank You to all at Durham.
Join us in giving out our KONPNE Christmas ThankYou Cards to NHS staff over the next few days…. it’s the very least we can do……
Saturday 17th December at 7am – Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, meet at bus stop by main gate
Sunday 18th December at 7am – North Tyneside General Hospital, North Shields, meet at bus stop on Rake Lane
Wednesday 21st December at 12 noon – Sunderland Royal Hospital, meet at bus stop on Chester Road
….. and another action – we will be supporting the nurse picket lines in Newcastle and North Tyneside tomorrow – click our action page on this website for info
10th December 2022 – Inspiring speakers at North Shields rally in support of NHS strikes
konpnortheast.com 