Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LOCAL TRACE
Cases: Deaths: 307,184 46,364 Cases: 18,853,226 Deaths: 707,468
deal after years of pay freezes and rises capped at 1%.
The agreement was signed in 2017. Newly qualified staff got rises of over 4% but for many longer serving workers the deal did not turn out so well.
While 13 unions initially backed the deal, the GMB union opposed it and argues that the salaries of staff in all but the bottom of each pay band have barely kept pace with inflation.
It adds those in band two have fallen below the Living Wage after getting a 1.7% annual rise. GMB calculates the average nurse’s earnings fell by 14% in real terms between 2010 and 2019.
GMB national officer Rachel Harrison said people thought NHS staff would get “the pay rise they’ve desperately needed for more than 10 years” as a reward for “saving lives even while risking their own”. She added: “Instead, it was yet another kick in the teeth.”
Nurse Abby Johnston, 31, who works at a children’s hospital in London, said: “Does this country really believe that all the work we do is only worth a clap? I am so insulted, hurt and in utter disbelief.”
Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “Boris Johnson clapped for our brilliant NHS staff. Now he needs to recognise their true value and give all NHS staff a fair pay rise.”
Medics fear the worst after a report in The Lancet this week warned that without an improved contact tracing system there may be a second wave in December twice as big as the first.
The pay rises announced last month came with no extra funding, so must be found from existing budgets.
Meanwhile, records show a lack of central supplies forced NHS trusts to go to extraordinary lengths to buy protective gear from unproven suppliers.
The National Audit Office found an independent committee advising on pandemic risk had recommended in 2019 that gowns and visors be stockpiled, but that had been ignored.
It meant just 15% of the expected requirement of PPE was distributed from the Government’s central stocks.
MORE areas hit hard by Covid-19 are developing their own track and trace systems amid growing claims the Government’s one is flawed.
Three councils in West Yorkshire plan to introduce their own way of tracking down infected residents and their contacts.
Traders say it may be the only chance of saving their business.
The Government’s system is “not fit for purpose”, according to Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. The councils in Calderdale, Kirklees and Bradford are now planning to implement their own track and trace systems.
Calderdale council leader Cllr Tim Swift, whose region has the sixth highest infection rate in England, said they hope theirs will be “up and running very soon”.
Bradford council said bosses are in talks with the Government, while Kirklees council is in “the very early stages”.
It follows concerns about the speed and effectiveness of the £10billion national system after a report this week revealed only half of contacts are being traced.
Kirsty Ferridge, 50, who owns The Albion pub in Bradford, said she would have to shut down the boozer for good if she is forced to close again due to another full lockdown. The Government announced last week the city was among the places to have to go into partial lockdown.
Greater Manchester, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale, Calderdale and Kirklees were the others.
Local authorities in eight of the worst-hit areas in England have now launched or are planning to launch their own track and trace schemes.
Blackburn and Darwen council’s public health boss said the national one was “simply not tracing enough cases and contacts fast enough”.
The local systems will include tracers knocking on doors as well as phoning people. Special envoy to the World Health Organisation, Dr David Nabarro, said it was “absolutely” the right move to have more locally run track and trace systems. It comes as Preston in Lancashire was warned it is “days away” from lockdown after its infection rate more than doubled in a week. The Government claims it is contacting 81% of Covid-positive people each week and reaching 75% of their contacts.