Recent performance figures show that it is groundhog day once again in the NHS. A series of unwelcome events (missed targets) recur in exactly the same way. But behind these statistics are human stories of unnecessary suffering, that shame those politicians who have tenaciously supported the failed Tory policies of the past ten years. A […]
Michael Walsh, a shoulder surgeon, has been sacked by Spire Healthcare and accused of subjecting scores of patients to unnecessary operations that left many in pain, traumatised and unable to work. This is a depressingly familiar story, with echoes of the case of Ian Paterson, the rogue breast surgeon who also worked for Spire. Paterson […]
Life expectancy is falling for the first time in over a century, driven by growing social inequality and a decade of ideological Conservative austerity. Sir Michael Marmot, the director of University College London’s Health Equity Institute, specifically cited government policy as a driver of worsening health and shorter lives for people in the UK. “England […]
The junior doctors strikes of 2015 were in response to an unprecedented attack on doctorsʼ working conditions, unequal pay and unsafe demands by then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Now, Doctors in Unite stands in proud solidarity with the striking educators, lecturers and researchers in the University and College Union, who have stood shivering on picket […]
Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (CoVid-19) has claimed over 1,300 lives and infected 60,000 worldwide so far, with no sign of slowing down. The NHS has become an increasingly fragmented service supplied by multiple providers, which is at risk of failing to deliver the co-ordinated, effective response that Coronavirus requires. The last potential pandemic the NHS responded […]
In the late 1980s our union first published proposals for a citizen’s income – what we would now call universal basic income. This was long before the idea became fashionable. Our proposal was simple – we would give an income of two thirds the average GDP per person to everyone, so long as they contributed […]
The UK’s oldest medical trade union has sent an open letter to the four Labour party leadership contenders, demanding they recognise climate change as a public health emergency. Doctors in Unite said that flooding, heatwaves, tropical diseases and toxic air pollution are already putting the public’s health at risk. The union’s chair Dr Jackie Applebee […]
The annual NHS winter crisis is now a continuous crisis. The latest performance figures for emergency departments are the worst ever and waiting lists continue to increase. The government has promised much, but there is little hope this will translate into real improvement. The situation continues to worsen due to chronic underfunding of health and […]
The UK’s oldest medical trade union has denounced the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Doctors in Unite chair Dr Jackie Applebee said she was “appaled” by the killing, citing fears that this would “further destabilise the Middle East” and “set off a chain of tit for tat actions that will lead to the deaths […]
The Doctors in Unite conference focussed its attention on the destructive effect of alcohol this year, and committed to making tackling alcohol harm its key priority for 2020. There are over 80 alcohol related deaths each day in the UK, and over a million hospital admissions a year are associated with alcohol use. In England, […]
Doctors in Unite 