NHS trade unions are striking and we are supporting them. Do join us!
Front-line NHS staff were denied a meagre one per cent pay rise for 2015/16 following the government’s decision to ignore the independent Pay Review Body recommendation. The effect of this is that sixty per cent of NHS staff and seventy per cent of nurses will not get a pay rise for the next two years. At NSFT, average staff pay fell by £756 last year. Falling wages and stressful working conditions mean that NSFT is losing skilled staff: some struggle to afford to put petrol in their cars at the end of the month and one nurse even left to start cake-making business. Meanwhile, the money can be found to give MPs their ten per cent pay rise or to give inflation-busting increases to NHS ‘executives’ like Jonathon Fagge, the £115,000 per year CEO of Norwich CCG, who believes that the solution to the NHS’s problems is to pay less – except to ‘leaders’ like him, as this graph demonstrates:
As patients and carers, we know that front-line staff are dedicated, caring and crucial to the successful delivery of mental health services. Indeed, many of them are our friends and sadly, increasing numbers of staff are themselves being made ill by the working environment at NSFT. As a campaign, we know one of the biggest challenges facing NSFT is attracting and retaining staff which is why we have campaigned against the shocking redundancy programme, the repeated down-banding, the poor leadership and bullying management which have so alienated the NSFT workforce. On occasion, NSFT has tried to blame this campaign for poor staff morale forgetting that our campaign started long after the NHS staff survey obtained its appalling results.
There needs to be a completely new people management culture at NSFT which genuinely values its staff and treats them with respect.
You can show your support between 0800-1100 tomorrow at the entrances to:
- Hellesdon Hospital, Hellesdon NR6 5BE
- Julian Hospital, Norwich 3TD
- Northgate Hospital, Great Yarmouth NR30 1BU
- West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds IP33 2QZ
Our banner will be at 80 St Stephens, Norwich NR1 3RE. Join us there between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.