Letter

Look forward not back

Dear healthmatters - With the election over and the changes which many were hoping not to see now established, what strategy should those opposed to the broad range of government policy on the NHS now pursue?

All of us need to examine and reformulate our policies and tactics. NALGO has started this exercise and presented a set of proposals to our annual meeting of health delegates in June. Our proposed partner unions COHSE and NUPE will be carrying out similar exercises.

To think that we can continue in exactly the same vein as before the election is surely foolish. But that does not mean that what was bad before 9 April is now good.

While NHS trade unions have been as active as any in opposing the government’s policies for delivering healthcare, in the task of protecting our members we face all the additional problems posed by government policy on devolving pay and service conditions negotiations in the NHS.

We have to gear ourselves up to handle local bargaining. This means strengthening our local organisation, offering our branches the support to deal with pay flexibility or job evaluation, and responding to the changed agenda at national level. At the same time we must continue to press our case for equal opportunities and better pay for NHS staff.

On the campaigning side we need to refocus away from opting out back to the provision of good quality health services generally. The government has promised that the NHS is safe with them, and that their reforms will work. In collaboration with campaigning organisations like Health Rights and the NHS Fed, trade unions must hold the government to account by monitoring the service and exposing the problems.

Finally we need to recognise that by the time of the next election the health service changes will be so firmly in place that the call for their reversal can not merely be restated. All interested partied need to begin a dialogue which will lead to the development of a new positive agenda for the NHS.