At the weekend just after 7am I had to give somebody a lift to a hospital Accident & Emergency unit.
The area was packed. The apologetic, concerned and sympathetic receptionist warned the waiting time was 10 hours.
Yes, you read that correctly. Ten hours at seven in the morning to see a doctor.
Which is longer than a flight to much of the US, Caribbean or India without the nibbles, drinks and on occasions even a seat.
The blame doesn’t lie with hard pressed, over-worked, under-staffed and poorly paid nurses, paramedics and ambulance crews pushed to strike.
Responsibility leads directly to a UK Conservative Government relishing a showdown to scapegoat workers for harm the Tories inflict on our precious NHS.
Years of the tightest financial straitjacket in the health service’s history sent waiting lists soaring before Covid fuelled them to a record 7.2-million in England alone.
Union leaders are the moderates in this battle, seeking compromise and a deal to avert walkouts.
Royal College of Nursing head Pat Cullen vowing “I won’t dig in if he doesn’t” was an olive branch to Stephen Barclay the Conservative Health Secretary turned into a weapon by refusing to open pay talks.
Tory Foreign Secretary James Cleverly hiding behind the NHS pay review body was destroyed by Labour’s Wes Streeting mocking Ministers for pretending public service disputes are nothing to do with them.
Enjoying the chauffeur-driven cars, official red boxes and No 10 parties without doing the graft is a Tory elite creating crises then going on strike themselves.
Pay review bodies are ignored when it suits the Tories.
NHS workers were cheated, for example, of a recommended award in 2014 and teachers in 2018.
Pay is rising three times as fast in the private (6.6%) over the public sector (2.25), another thing Ministers don’t tell us.
The TUC calculates average earnings shrunk nearly £80 a month this year and for key workers is down £180 a month in real terms.
Tory Ministers want the NHS, rail, post and other strikes to divide and rule. This time it won’t work. People in that A&E and the country know the truth.
