Unite the Union in Scotland undertook the biggest exercise in getting workers views from the sector on how a potential National Care Service in Scotland should work from them. From that survey, it was clear that the issues that were being experienced by a majority of workers couldn't wait until the creation of a National Care Service and had to be challenged immediately.

The practice of ghost clinics or double-booking patient clinics for commercial gain risks both patients and clinicians in their prospective roles. Patients can be put at risk from a rushed eye examination that may miss vital signs of an eye condition or overall eye health. Practitioners are put in a compromising position between carrying out their employer's request and/or breaching GOC standards which could lead to them losing their registration and be unable to practice. The application of ghost clinics is often aimed at those with less employment rights like new starters, newly qualified or locums (self-employed), who feel pressurised to accept the practice. Many practitioners are left feeling stressed, missing their rest breaks and working additional hours just to cover the double appointments booked whilst feeling they are letting patients down. This also affects everyone who rely on companies within the optical sector to look after their eye health, so help support those in the sector trying to eradicate this practice and also for the benefit of your own wider health by signing this petition.

Local people have not been able to access aquatic physiotherapy services to manage long-term conditions and access rehabilitation following surgery or injury for the last two and a half years. Musculoskeletal out-patients have only recently been moved to the Lewisham and Greenwich pool which is operating at maximum capacity and is approximately one hour away from Orpington via public transport. No aquatic physiotherapy provision has been made for neuro in-patients or patients from external groups who hired the pool before it closed. Aquatic physiotherapy allows people to develop skills to self-manage conditions, maintain a good quality of life and reduce dependence on long-term medication. When a patient is able to effectively self-manage by having access to aquatic physiotherapy this reduces their attendance at GP and secondary care services, which is beneficial to both the patient and the local healthcare system. This short video will help you understand the value of aquatic physiotherapy. https://youtu.be/Y8hYIqGEkLQ Aquatic physiotherapy is beneficial for people with a range of long-term conditions including: · Parkinson’s · Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) · Rheumatoid arthritis · Hypermobility · Multiple sclerosis · Fibromyalgia · Cerebral palsy It is also used to optimise rehabilitation of people who have had joint replacements, strokes, brain injury, deconditioning due to periods in ITU/illness and many common musculoskeletal conditions. Furthermore, it can be used to enrich people’s quality of life, health and wellbeing in life limiting or palliative conditions. Mr Lofthouse, patients who rely on aquatic physiotherapy, whose symptoms and conditions are worsening all the time that the hydrotherapy pool is closed, need the pool to reopen. Please begin a meaningful consultation with your staff and service users in the community to reopen the hydrotherapy pool and explore the business model of other aquatic physiotherapy services across the country who operate a successfully by hiring their pools to other users.

Most people using the service are terminally ill. They deserve a specialist, knowledgeable team to manage their claims. The closure risks long delays and a lack of specialist knowledge to support claims. • 40+ jobs are at risk leaving staff in fear of redundancy with little chance of redeployment in the local area. • Over 1000 combined years of experience helping the growing number of victims of asbestos-related lung diseases and other industrial disease will be lost. • Excellent working relationships with asbestos support groups, unions and charities will end. • Sufferers of terminal illnesses and their families will have to wait longer to receive payment and peace of mind at the most difficult of times. Industrial disease continues to have a devastating effect on workers and families across the country. Britain has the highest rates of asbestos cancer in the world, and Barrow has the highest rates in Britain. The thousands of people suffering work-related illnesses every year deserve a dedicated service. Save Phoenix House! This campaign is just one concerning 50 DWP sites facing closure, for more information see www.pcs.org.uk/campaigns/campaign-dwp-jobs-services-communities

NHS workers (e.g. Porters, Cleaners, Catering, Security) who are employed by ISS, a private company that is contracted by Calderdale & Huddersfield Foundation Trust to run non-clinical services, want an end to their minimum wage rates, terms and conditions. As NHS workers they are demanding alignment with the NHS “Agenda for Change” contract that would see their pay, terms and conditions significantly improved. Every day since March 2020, our members have put themselves at risk; at risk of getting infected and at risk of infecting their family. We clapped for them, we labelled them heroes and yet these local NHS heroes face the indignity of being treated less than; to be employed as NHS workers, but not paid as NHS workers. The Trust outsourced their responsibility to ISS and in return ISS have raced to the bottom to set these workers on minimum pay. We are simply demanding that this be corrected, that the Trust recognise its responsibility to these NHS heroes and take action to end poverty pay at Calderdale Royal Hospital.

We are NHS workers in Lancashire and we urgently need your support. As hospital cleaners and catering staff, we are outsourced to OCS and have worked 24/7 throughout the pandemic to keep staff and patients safe. But while OCS boasts it turned over hundreds of millions during the COVID crisis, it continues to pay us less than our NHS colleagues doing exactly the same jobs. Hospital workers employed by OCS are £2000 worse off than our colleagues working for the NHS. We also have inferior working conditions including 7 days less annual leave and lower sick pay. We submitted a collective grievance about this issue in May 2021, and EIGHT MONTHS on, we finally received a response- which failed to address any of the issues and passed blame to the NHS Trust. We have become increasingly frustrated and have now voted 97.8% in favour of taking strike action to resolve this issue. One OCS worker said: "I work for OCS as a domestic on the hospital wards. When accepted the job I was told the rate of pay was minimum wage, but was not told I would be working alongside work colleagues on a different contract which has a higher rate of hourly pay and full sick pay, they also receive 35 days holidays and we get 28 days including bank holidays. We have all worked through the pandemic, working on Covid 19 wards where some Covid patients have been walking freely around the wards. As a thank you from OCS we received a 2 finger KitKat and told we could also have an extra 10 minute break! We all found this very insulting, we have been fighting our dispute with OCS for 3 years now and we feel that the 2 tier pay system and contracts that OCS have in place are very unfair and causes friction amongst work colleagues, we all do the same job and we should all receive the same rate of pay and terms and conditions." Sadly, OCS still isn’t listening. We think that a great way to get the Chief Executive’s attention is to flood his inbox with emails from all of us. Can you take a few minutes to email Bob Taylor? It’s easy, you just need to add your details and press send. We don’t want to strike if we can avoid it, especially not in the middle of a global pandemic but we will do what it takes to get fair treatment. Health bosses and OCS can still avert a strike by agreeing to pay us the correct rate for the job. Claps don't pay the bills. Key workers demand fair pay. #ONENHS, nobody left behind.

The heritage and wider cultural sector was hit very hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of jobs were lost as vital income streams dried up. As museums, galleries and other spaces have been able to reopen to the public and tourism has begun to recover there have been some green shoots of recovery. However this can only happen with both a safe workforce and visitors that feel confident about attending Covid-secure venues. This is being put at risk by the failure of the UK government to mandate the wearing of facemasks for visitors to indoor heritage venues in England. Although masks will only be one part of a comprehensive strategy to address the risks posed by Covid the World Health Organisations recommends them as an important part of this comprehensive approach.

PFI BLEEDS THE NHS DRY, TIME’S UP FOR PFI PROFITEERS! Unison Lanarkshire Health Branch has launched a campaign to bring private contracts within NHS Lanarkshire back in house into public ownership. The campaign aims to end the private Serco and ISS contracts within NHS Lanarkshire; which provides catering, portering, domestic and security services at Hairmyres and Wishaw Hospitals back in house to put an end to a two-tier workforce. Once brought back in-house it will allow all NHS Lanarkshire workers at these sites to be employed on equal terms and conditions. Bringing these contracts back in house will also put an end to profit-motivated contractors providing public services at the public’s expense. Unison has produced a letter which we have directly mailed to all Lanarkshire Councillors, MSPs and MPs asking them to support our campaign to bring the staff back in-house where they belong. Let's be clear, PFI contracts are bleeding NHS Lanarkshire and its time to put a stop to private profiteers draining OUR National Health Service. Support our campaign and sign our petition! You can also get more involved in the campaign by: Phone: 01698 754333 Email: [email protected]

Throughout the pandemic, biomedical scientists have been on the frontline of our NHS, analysing patient blood samples and carrying out covid-19 testing. Their work has been critical to keeping us safe. But the NHS Trust has let these key workers down. They have acted in bad faith and failed to fully honour the agreement to upgrade them from band 5 to band 6 and pay the back pay they are entitled to. After exploring all options to resolve the issue, Unite members were left with no choice but to take industrial action. And now the Trust is wasting public funds trying to break the strike. These workers need your support. Can you add your voice and demand East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust honour their agreement?

PCS members have been in dispute with DVLA management and the Department for Transport (DfT) since January over covid safety in the workplace. With the highest numbers of workplace cases, management were slow to act and showed scant disregard for members health. After 8 days of strike action PCS negotiated a deal to end the dispute and put in place clear safeguards for those in work. At the 11th hour the draft agreement was scrapped by management without a clear explanation why. Further strike action is now underway. We believe government ministers stopped the DVLA management signing the deal. We need to apply pressure to the Secretary of State to settle this dispute. Please sign the email to him. It’s your right to be heard and only pressure from union members and our friends and family will work now.

Latest Government figures revealed a staggering 385,000 people have been living with symptoms of long Covid for a year or more. And spiralling infection rates mean many more people are likely to contract long Covid. Symptoms include fatigue, brain fog and shortness of breath, and it’s more common in key workers, women and those living in the most deprived areas. Our research reviled wide spread discrimination and disbelief at work 1 in 20 people with long covid have been forced out of their jobs. This is not acceptable. We must stand in solidarity with everyone who has long Covid. We demand the Government urgently address the discrimination people with long Covid face.

GMB union members and workers at Yeovil District Hospital are demanding respect and fair pay. Simply Serve Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yeovil District Hospital Foundation Trust. NHS workers in non-clinical roles (e.g. Porters, Cleaners, Housekeeping, Admin, Catering,) who were transferred from the Trust into its wholly-owned subsidiary, Simply Serve Limited (SSL), remain on the NHS “Agenda For Change” (AFC) contract, while new starters are paid on the lower SSL rates, despite doing the same job. It is not acceptable for staff to do the work of NHS workers, but not be be recognised and paid as NHS workers. GMB demand equal pay for equal work. It is fair, it is reasonable and it is right. Join GMB, sign the petition and support the campaign for Pay Justice in our NHS!