EVERY day NHS staff working in the St Helens and Knowsley are putting their health and wellbeing on the line to provide care in exceptionally difficult circumstances.
Yet after the most difficult year in living memory for NHS staff, the UK Government announced in early March that they intend only to give a one per cent pay rise to those who’ve given so much to care for those impacted by this pandemic and look after the nation’s health when it has been needed most.
The 2020 NHS Staff Survey showed that 44 per cent of staff working in Covid wards had felt mentally unwell as a consequence of the pressure they have faced.
A decent pay rise would protect the NHS, help improve the morale of an exhausted workforce and provide a much-needed lift to struggling shops, pubs, restaurants, theatres and other businesses across the UK – because NHS staff spend a significant portion of their salaries in the local economy.
The NHS pay review body will announce its recommendation in late May/Early June, and following this Unison will be consulting our members on the offer made and how members would like to respond.
Anthony Lockhart
Branch Secretary/ Joint Staffside Chair
St Helens & Knowsley UNISON Health Branch
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