To resolve NHS crisis and strike chaos, UK needs wholesale reforms – Scotsman comment

It may be tempting to view the current wave of strikes in purely financial terms.

Rishi Sunak has adopted an unimaginative, managerial approach since becoming Prime Minister (Picture: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

However, much of workers’ frustration stems from more than just the past year in which soaring inflation has eroded their standard of life. In many cases the discontent can be traced back to the years of austerity following the 2008 banking crash.

What was meant to be a short, sharp shock turned into a prolonged period of hard times for many, with the growth of food banks and exploitative zero-hour contracts. The self-inflicted wound of Brexit then added further pain.

These disputes are about more than this year’s pay award. And that means it is simplistic to imagine that doling out a bit more taxpayers’ money will satisfactorily resolve matters.

Instead, wholesale reforms to improve public services and working conditions for staff must be considered, with priorities reassessed in order to prevent the seemingly continual decline in standards and the associated fall in staff morale.

By far the most pressing example is the NHS, as Dr Iain Kennedy, chair of the British Medical Association Scotland, made clear. Writing in the Scotsman, he stressed the need for the Scottish Government to lead a “national conversation” to find a better way forward, warning health service staff were “on their knees” and likely “to simply give up and leave the NHS” if the situation was not addressed.

Successive below-inflation pay rises have resulted in substantial real-terms cuts for nurses and others, while the number of unfilled job vacancies has spiralled. Anyone finding themselves being paid less for a job as it becomes increasingly stressful and difficult is likely to reach the end of their tether, particularly given lives are at stake.

In order for the necessary root-and-branch reforms to take place, we need governments full of energy and ideas. Unfortunately, Nicola Sturgeon remains as obsessed as ever with independence, while Rishi Sunak appears to have accepted the Conservatives will lose the next election, with an unimaginative, managerial approach apparently the best he can muster.

Amid this vacuum of dynamic leadership, it is for Labour to come up with a host of bright ideas that can rescue the country from its current decline. Just waiting for a Tory collapse is no way to prepare to make the transformative reforms the UK so desperately needs.