Unprecedented UK Nursing Union and Ambulance crews strike
Tens of thousands of nurses from the Royal College of Nursing Union and ambulance crews have gone on an unprecedented strike, calling on the NHS for increased pay as well as better work conditions.
They had warned during the previous strike that the next one would be their biggest yet, and they have kept their promise. Tens of thousands of nurses from the Royal College of Nursing union and ambulance crews are on strike, this time, together.
The chanting on the picket lines is not just about inflation busting pay rises but about the depressing state of the National Health Service as well.
An ICU nurse, who has worked for the NHS for 10 years, explains why she thinks the system is in crisis:
Total underfunding, a lack of foresight, I think, politically and nurses really just being taken for granted for too long
Striking ICU Nurse, 10 years with NHS
And that has meant tens of thousands of trained nurses either leaving the profession or working for the private sector in recent years.
The strikers are calling for the National Health Service to be kept alive, a system which is now on life support, and many in the medical profession believe that the deeper the crisis gets, the stronger the likelihood that privatization will be foisted upon them.
That's because while the NHS is at breaking point, private healthcare is flourishing, creating worries about a two tier system, one for the rich, who can pay their way, and another one, a subpar NHS, for everyone else.
I hope that it isn't the case that we're moving towards a privatized system. I think it would be disastrous for all of us if that if that was the case.
I think hopefully with these strikes, the public support that we've gained, the government will listen and see that that is an option. People don't want to lose the NHS.
NHS Striker
Though public support for the strikers is evidently very strong, however, it remains to be seen which side the British government will take.
President Yoon Suk Yeol to be removed from office
Spain jurists demand ties with Israel ties be cut
The fall of Bashar Assad
Russia downs over 40 Ukrainian drones as Putin vows 'destruction' on Kiev
VIDEO | Yemen: A bone in Israeli neck
D-8’s role in Iran’s economy after Cairo summit
China slams US as ‘war-addicted’ threat to global security
China ‘firmly opposes’ US military aid to Taiwan
VIDEO | Press TV's News Headlines
President Yoon Suk Yeol to be removed from office
At least 19 Gazans killed by Israeli airstrikes since dawn: Medics
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
