O/T:- The NHS strike - for or against?

[TheBlackHorse]

... trying to cut away from some of the well meaning self interest on this emotive topic ... my daughter was in the last intake of nurses (thank God) before the idiot who decided nurses need a degree. She has a good friend, employed by NHS, who is an accountant earning £96,000 pa. For decades, along with much of GB general management, there is criminal poor management of most things in the NHS. It's useless politicians who have little knowledge about what makes things work - never mind whether red or blue - which allows out of control senior and middle managers to 'empire build'. The unions, bless them, see this total ineptitude and can play havoc with the useless system. Time to separate front line workers - nurses, ambulance staff, social workers - from the support staff ... although you can bet your life that unions won't go for that. My daughter is now a prescribing nurse ... you can imagine what she thinks about the situation ... NO MORE MONEY FOR THE NHS; CUT THE ADMIN/MANAGEMENT. It's not unlike the miners contempt for surface workers ... history repeating itself in a different form.

[cher1]

Time to separate front line workers - nurses, ambulance staff, social workers - from the support staff ... although you can bet your life that unions won't go for that. My daughter is now a prescribing nurse ... you can imagine what she thinks about the situation ... NO MORE MONEY FOR THE NHS; CUT THE ADMIN/MANAGEMENT. It's not unlike the miners contempt for surface workers ... history repeating itself in a different form.

I strongly disagree with this. My only issue with the nurses' strike is that it seems to want to separate nurses pay demands from all other NHS staff. Almost all NHS staff are paid on the same pay scales (A4C). Porters, ward clerks, HCAs, housekeepers are all ***** for good patient care, and paid significantly less. I worked (front line clinical) during a porters' strike years ago and it made me realise how inter-reliant we all were regarding care for patients.

Just focusing the pay fight on nurses also excludes People like physios, OTs, ODPs, SALTs, dieticians etc at infinitum. All are just as ***** as nurses. The focus should be on fair pay across the board, not just one, or a few, groups.

In terms of the NHS overall, maybe we need to radically rethink it. I've had multiple experiences in a European system and it's streets ahead of the UK (and not just the NHS in Tory times). Better outcomes and better patient experience at every step. It would cost us more, are we prepared to pay it?