Emergency services need our support
After every tragedy or adverse event, like the horrible scenes witnessed at the Manchester Arena last week, it is the emergency services who are running towards the danger and who are left coping with its aftermath.
Their dedication and bravery gives us all hope and reassurance, and receives praise without fail from politicians of every hue.
It’s understandable – but it shouldn’t take for a tragedy of this scale for us to show our appreciation.
There’s no doubt that working in the NHS can be a difficult job with long hours and, from all accounts, an everincreasing workload as our staff try to do more with less.
From the nurses to the paramedics and all the other healthcare staff involved in delivering quality care and the admin workers who keep the systems running; the successful operation of our health service relies on the goodwill and hard work of its workers.
There was no better example of that dedication than at Hairmyres just a few short weeks ago in the aftermath of the cyber attack on NHS IT systems when staff worked around the clock to ensure patient safety and care wouldn’t be compromised.
In the Scottish Parliament, I joined the health secretary in commending that work of the staff and put my thanks on record.
But healthcare staff need more than just our goodwill and praise. As one nurse said to me during a UNISON workers rally outside parliament last week – warm words don’t pay the bills.
That’s why I’m committed, alongside my Labour colleagues, to scrapping the pay freeze for NHS workers.
The one per cent pay cap, which the SNP government announced in March they would continue for another year, is driving down living standards and damaging staff morale.
Nurses pay has fallen by 13 per cent in real terms since 2010 while prices have risen on average by 22 per cent, meaning that they’re, on average, about £3400 a year worse off.
With such a drastic cut in income, it’s no wonder that we’ve been hearing scandalous stories in the media about nurses reporting they are having to resort to foodbanks to feed themselves and their families.
The one per cent pay cap is nothing but an insult to dedicated staff.
And all the while, spending on private agency staff has soared under the SNP to £175 million in 2015/16.
Rather than spending millions of pounds of public money on private agencies, the SNP government should be breaking the pay cap for NHS workers and putting that money directly back into the system.
The SNP might say publicly that they support the staff but their own recommendation to the NHS pay review body was to keep the one per cent cap and just a couple of weeks ago in the Scottish Parliament, they voted against Labour’s motion to scrap the cap and give NHS staff a pay rise.
Telling nurses to think themselves lucky they earn 16 pence an hour more than their counterparts in England is a desperate defence.
My message to the SNP government is simple: NHS workers deserve fair pay – it’s time to scrap the cap.