Healthcare workers in Wiltshire are stepping up their fight against privatisation with a lobby of the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) today, Thursday 21 November 2024.
Staff including nurses, occupational therapists, care coordinators, health care assistants, and physiotherapists will gather in Keynsham, from ahead of the 10am meeting.
Organised by UNISON, the lobby opposes the ICB’s recent decision to transfer 2,000 health workers to the private HCRG Care Group, taking them further from NHS employment.
UNISON South West regional secretary Kerry Baigent said: “This transfer is a disastrous decision that staff neither wanted nor support. These workers, who take immense pride in delivering public healthcare, want to be part of the NHS. Moving them to a private company prioritises shareholder profit over patient care.
“The NHS must attract and retain skilled workers to provide safe, effective care. Pushing staff into the private sector erodes pay, job security, and working conditions. It’s not just harmful to staff – it’s harmful to the future of healthcare.”
The union is calling for a review of the decision and a committment to bring staff and services back into the NHS.
UNISON Wiltshire Health Care steward Thomas Simblet said:
“It’s fundamentally wrong for public healthcare to be treated as a profit-making venture. Every penny diverted to shareholder pockets is a penny not invested in patient care, vital equipment, or improved services.
“We are standing together to protect the NHS from further privatisation and to ensure staff are paid fairly for the essential work they do.”
This lobby comes after health workers were forced to take strike action earlier this year to secure the same pay rise given to NHS colleagues.
The decision to transfer them to HCRG Care Group undermines the government’s own pledges to end two-tier workforces and insource privatised contracts.
