New York City preps for 8,700 nurses to go on strike, impacting emergency triages at 3 major hospitals

New York City Office of Emergency Management bracing for nursing strike

By Danielle Wallace

FOXBusiness

New York City is preparing for some 8,700 nurses to possibly go on strike Monday, impacting emergency room triage at between three major private hospitals.

Politico reported that the New York City Office of Emergency Management was organizing an "interagency situation room" to kick off virtually and in person at 6 a.m. Monday to monitor citywide hospital operations in real time and direct the flow of ambulances. In preparation for the strike, hospitals were also reportedly organizing patient transfers, though it’s unclear how many were moved.

In its latest 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday briefing, the New York State Nurses Association, a union of representing 42,000 members across the state, said after a day of bargaining at Montefiore and Mount Sinai Morningside and West Saturday, no new tentative agreements were reached.

"Mount Sinai Hospital management walked out on the last bargaining session and avoided the table and their responsibility to bargain in good faith on Friday and Saturday," a press release said. "Today, Mount Sinai agreed to meet with NYSNA nurses, and all three hospitals will be at the bargaining table."




Thsi file image shows people walk outside of Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, on September 22, 2020 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images / Getty Images)

About 8,700 nurses at three New York City hospitals – Montefiore Bronx, Mount Sinai Hospital, and Mount Sinai Morningside and West – will strike on Monday morning if agreements cannot be reached, the union said.

The looming strike went from possibly affecting five hospitals to just three after BronxCare Health System and Flushing Hospital Medical Center reached tentative agreements with the nurses Saturday and Friday respectively.

image shows a man wearing a mask sits on the steps outside Mount Sinai West Hospital as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on September 23, 2020. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The tentative agreement for Flushing, where approximately 470 nurses work, includes a full ratio-based safe staffing grid, improved staffing arbitration and enforcement, a three-year contract with salary increases of 7%, 6%, and 5%, and preservation of NYSNA healthcare and pension benefits.

Similarly, BronxCare and The Brooklyn Hospital Center reached tentative agreements that will improve safe staffing levels and enforcement, increase wages by 7%, 6%, and 5% each year of their three-year contract, and save their healthcare benefits, according to the union. Nurses at BronxCare had planned to strike starting Monday if an agreement could not be reached.

This file image shows people walk outside of Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on September 22, 2020 in New York City. ( Spencer Platt/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Ken Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, told Politico that he personally briefed New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on the possible strike. The FDNY is implementing contingency plans to reroute ambulances, and NYC Health + Hospitals reportedly will utilize emergency strategies amid an expected increase in patients from the private facilities.

Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai West reportedly began transferring 13 infants treated in their neonatal intensive care units to other hospitals Friday in preparation for the nursing strike.

‘Listen to people on this side,’ migrants in Mexico say as Biden visits border

By Daina Beth Solomon and Jose Luis Gonzalez | Reuters

Residents and pro-migrant activists hold signs while marching in downtown El Paso, Texas, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. Several hundred marched through the streets of El Paso a day before President Joe Biden's first, politically-thorny visit to the southern border. Andres Leighton, Associated Press

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Venezuelan migrant Julio Marquez sells lollipops near the border in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, holding a cardboard sign scrawled with marker: “Help us with whatever comes from your heart.”

He has the same message for President Joe Biden, who visits the Texas city of El Paso, just across the border, on Sunday.

“We hope he helps us, that he lets us pass, since we’re suffering a lot here in Mexico,” said Marquez, 32. “He has to listen to the people on this side.”

Biden’s first border visit as president comes days after a new policy aimed at reducing illegal migration has been criticized by migrant advocates for limiting asylum access.

The two-pronged approach offers legal pathways to the United States for certain Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans who have U.S. sponsors, while expelling people of those nationalities back to Mexico if they attempt to cross the border without permission.

Mexican migration agents and state police on Saturday patrolled the concrete banks of the Rio Grande river dividing Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, as groups of families attempted to clamber through loops of concertina wire into the United States.

“Duck down,” Erlan Garay of Honduras instructed a Colombian woman and her three children, including an 8-year-old boy clutching a Spiderman toy.

“They’re going to request asylum, they have a chance,” he said, adding that he would look for somewhere else to clandestinely cross, and shrugging off a drop of blood where the fence pricked his hand.

Marquez said he and his partner, Yalimar Chirinos, 19, do not qualify for the new legal entry program because they lack a U.S. sponsor.

“They’re constantly changing the laws, every week,” Chirinos said, wearing a black hoodie and a single pink-and-blue glove to try to ward off the cold.

The couple has spent five months in Mexico after crossing several countries and the dangerous Darien jungle between Colombia and Panama. They sleep at night on the street without a tent or blankets, hugging one another to stay warm, wary of criminals known to rob and kidnap migrants.

At one point they crossed undetected into Texas, but after several days without food or a place to stay, they turned themselves in to U.S. officials, who sent them back to Mexico.

Marquez said he will stick it out another 15 days hoping to find a legal route into the United States, before looking for a way back to Venezuela.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” he said, breaking into tears. “Mr. President, if you’re going to deport me, deport me back to my country, not back here to Mexico.”

Others were undeterred, even after their own expulsions to Mexico.

“Send me wherever you want, I’ll come back,” said Jonathan Tovar, 29, speaking on Friday from behind the fence of Mexico’s migration office in Ciudad Juarez. “I want the president of the United States to give me and my family a chance.”

IRELAND

Climate activists vow to defend village at risk from coal mine expansion

SUN, 08 JAN, 2023 - 11:19

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Climate activists have pledged to defend a tiny village in western Germany from being bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby coal mine that has become a battleground between the government and environmental campaigners.

Hundreds of people are expected to take part in protest training and a subsequent demonstration in the hamlet of Luetzerath, which lies west of Cologne next to the vast Garzweiler coal mine.

The open-cast mine, which provides a large share of the lignite – a soft, brownish coal – burned at nearby power plants, is scheduled to close by 2030 under a deal agreed last year between the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and utility company RWE.

Climate activists have set up camp to try and stop the clearance of the village of Luetzerath (David Young/dpa/AP)

The company says it needs the coal to ensure Germany’s energy security, which has come under strain following the cut in gas supplies from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.

But environmental groups have condemned the agreement, saying it will still result in hundreds of millions of tons of coal being extracted and burned.

They argue this will release vast amounts of greenhouse gas and make it impossible for Germany to meet its commitments under the 2015 Paris climate accord.

Activists are creating barricades in a bid to protect the village (David Young/dpa/AP)

Prominent campaigners have called on supporters to defend the village from destruction, citing the impact that climate change is already having on Germany and beyond.

German news agency dpa reported that some activists have erected barricades and other defensive measures to prevent Luetzerath being razed.

Last week, protesters briefly clashed with police at the site.

Police have said no clearance will take place before January 10.

German activists vow to resist

plans for coal mine expansion

Environmentalist groups announce massive protests to block expansion of open-air coal mine in northwestern Germany

Ayhan Simsek |08.01.2023


BERLIN

German environmentalist groups announced on Sunday that they will resist plans to expand an open-air coal mine in the northwestern village of Lutzerath.

"Who attacks Lutzerath, attacks our future,” environmentalist groups said in a joint statement, vowing to block preparations for the demolition of the village.

Their spokesperson Luka Scott slammed the German government for failing to live up to its commitments to fight climate change.

“Instead of finally phasing out coal immediately, Lutzerath is to be destructed. This will set off a new climate bomb - with catastrophic consequences,” she said.

Soraya Kutterer, a spokesperson for the Extinction Rebellion group, said the German government is paying more attention to the profit interests of the large energy corporations.

“Together we fight for the preservation of Lutzerath, the preservation of our livelihoods and against the lobbying influence of the fossil industry,” she said.

The German energy giant RWE is planning to demolish the village of Lutzerath, as part of a plan to expand the Garzweiler coal mine’s extraction area, to mine 280 million tons of lignite between 2023 and 2030.

Climate Activists to Defend Village From Demolition by Coal Mine
January 08, 2023 
Associated Press

Activists demonstrate at Luetzerath, a village that is about to be demolished to allow for the expansion of the Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine of Germany's utility RWE, Germany, Jan. 8, 2023.

BERLIN —

Climate activists pledged Sunday to defend a tiny village in western Germany from being bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby coal mine that has become a battleground between the government and environmental campaigners.

Hundreds of people from across Germany gathered for protest training and a subsequent demonstration in the hamlet of Luetzerath, which lies west of Cologne next to the vast Garzweiler coal mine.

The open-cast mine, which provides a large share of the lignite — a soft, brownish coal — burned at nearby power plants, is scheduled to close by 2030 under a deal agreed last year between the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and utility company RWE.

SEE ALSO:
Climate Activists Protest as German Village to Make Way for Coal Mine

The company says it needs the coal to ensure Germany's energy security, which has come under strain following the cut in gas supplies from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.

But environmental groups have blasted the agreement, saying it will still result in hundreds of millions of tons of coal being extracted and burned. They argue that this would release vast amounts of greenhouse gas and make it impossible for Germany to meet its commitments under the 2015 Paris climate accord.

“[We] will fight for every tree, for every house, for every meter in this village,” said Luka Scott, a spokesperson for the alliance of groups organizing protests. “Because whoever attacks Luetzerath, attacks our future.”

Prominent campaigners have rallied support to defend the village from destruction, citing the impact that climate change is already having on Germany and beyond.

A damaged police civil car is seen at Luetzerath, a village that is about to be demolished to allow for the expansion of the Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine of Germany's utility RWE, Germany, Jan. 8, 2023.

German news agency dpa reported that some activists have erected barricades and other defensive measures to prevent Luetzerath from being razed. Last week, protesters briefly clashed with police at the site.

The village and surrounding areas belong to RWE and the last farmer residing there sold his property to the company in 2022 after losing a court case against his eviction. Since then, only a handful of activists have remained, some living in self-built tree houses or caravans.

Police have said no clearance will take place before Jan. 10.

Shell poised to pay UK taxes for the first time in five years

Story by David Connett • Yesterday 

Shell will pay tax in the UK for the first time since 2017 as it is poised to make record profits.

(Photo: Rui Vieira/ PA)© Provided by The i


The energy firm said it expects to pay around $2bn (£1.7bn) on profits in the UK and the European Union.

This would be on top of $360m due on its financial performance in the three months to October 2022. A detailed breakdown of the taxes paid will be published next month, the company said.

Shell has received tax relief on investments it has been making in British areas of the North Sea and on oil-platform decommissioning, which have been higher than the taxes it owed, resulting in nothing being paid.

Last year the UK Government, together with some governments in Europe, imposed windfall taxes on energy companies in an effort to use some of the huge profits firms have made through high oil and gas prices to help consumers.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said in his November Autumn Statement that the energy industry will be subject to an expanded windfall tax of 35 per cent. The levy, which ends in March 2028, is expected to raise in excess of $33bn over the next six years

Shell’s former chief executive Ben van Buerden publicly suggested the Government should levy taxes against oil and gas companies to protect the poorest.

Referring to energy companies, he said: “That probably may then mean that governments need to tax people in this room to pay for it. I think we just have to accept as a society – it can be done smartly and not so smartly. There is a discussion to be had about it but I think it’s inevitable.”

Van Beurden was replaced at the start of the year by Wael Sawan, previously the company’s head of gas and renewables.

The European Commission said it originally expected to raise €25bn from the additional oil levy introduced in September, but is now facing a legal challenge from US oil major ExxonMobil.

Analysts said Shell remained on track for record annual profit in 2022, having posted earnings of $30bn in the first three quarters, just shy of the 2008 record profit of $31bn.

Shell said it will increase its ­dividend to shareholders by 15 per cent. It said profits on its natural gas business were “significantly higher” despite major production problems at two plants in Australia.

It also reported higher refining profit margins in its chemicals and fuels business in the last three months of 2022, but said that trading profits from refined products were lower than in the previous quarter.

Shell’s profits come as motoring groups accused retailers, including the largest supermarkets, of not cutting prices quickly enough, or by an appropriate amount, when wholesale costs fall. UK fuel costs are under investigation by the competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority, following record prices last summer.

UK
Teachers plan co-ordinated strikes to shut as many schools as possible

Camilla Turner
Fri, January 6, 2023 

Rishi Sunak visits Harris Academy, in south-west London - A PRIVATE SCHOOL-

Teachers are planning to co-ordinate strikes to close as many schools as possible, The Telegraph can disclose.

Three of the UK’s major education unions will close ballots next week. If they reach the threshold required for industrial action, teachers will be the next major public sector group to walk out, causing havoc to children’s education.

“Unions obviously will talk to each other about strike dates and try to co-ordinate them. It makes sense to do this – there will be more impact,” said an education union source.

Teachers at any one school can belong to multiple different unions, meaning co-ordinated strike action would make it more likely that entire schools would close.

Meanwhile, junior doctors are threatening to strike for three days in March if a ballot opening on Monday is in favour of industrial action.

It comes as Rishi Sunak summoned union chiefs to Whitehall on Monday in a bid to break the deadlock over crippling strikes.

The Prime Minister said he wanted to have a “grown-up, honest conversation” with union bosses about reaching a “responsible, reasonable and affordable” pay deal.

The National Education Union (NEU) has told its 300,000 members that they have until Saturday to post their ballot papers to ensure they arrive before the deadline.

Members of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers are also voting, with all ballots closing by next Friday.

“Once we have the ballot result we will be able to declare what the pattern of action would be,” a union source told the Telegraph. “We would speak to each other – you would expect that.”

The source argued that this would actually be better for parents because it would mean only having to organise childcare on a limited number of days, adding: “The problem with doing it on different dates is that it can create more disruption. The last people we want to disrupt are parents and children.”

The results of the teaching union ballots are expected to come down to the wire as postal strikes have held up the arrival of many ballots papers, The Telegraph revealed last week.

Ministers have angered teachers in the final days of balloting by announcing plans to make all pupils in England study maths until the age of 18 without any policies to solve a shortage of maths teachers.

The Government has also faced a backlash over plans to introduce a new law that would keep schools open during strikes with minimum service levels.

Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the NEU, said the law would create “a situation where you have a right to strike but no meaningful way to do it.” Geoff Barton, of the Association of School and College Leaders, accused ministers of “sabre-rattling”.

On Friday night, there were signs the Government was preparing to soften its stance on public sector pay rises.

Letters sent to health unions by the Health Secretary said the Government was prepared to discuss its recommendations for next year’s pay round and to improve upon them if unions agree to changes to boost productivity and efficiency.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, made a new and improved offer to the Aslef train drivers’ union of eight per cent over two years. The offer, signed off by the Department for Transport, would take the average train driver salary from £60,000 to £65,000.

UK

Why Rishi Sunak's Refusal To Say If He Has Private Health Cover Matters

The prime minister was left squirming during an excruciating exchange with Laura Kuenssberg.

By Kevin Schofield
08/01/202


Rishi Sunak clashed with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.
JEFF OVERS/BBC VIA PA MEDIA

Government ministers will finally sit down for face-to-face talks with union leaders tomorrow.

Although the discussions are ostensibly about public sector pay in 2023/24, rather than the current year, it is a sign that both sides are at least willing to engage after months of stalemate and strikes.

Looking ahead to the talks, Rishi Sunak this morning told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “When it comes to pay we’ve always said we want to talk about things that are reasonable, that are affordable and responsible for the country.”

Unfortunately for Number 10, however, tomorrow’s papers are likely to focus on another part of the PM’s interview.

Kuenssberg, not unreasonably, asked millionaire Sunak whether he was “registered with a private GP and are you still”.

Seemingly blindsided by the question, the prime minister refused to say, choosing instead to fall back on his stock NHS answer of pointing out his dad had been a GP and his mum used to run a pharmacy.

Insisting questions about his personal arrangements were “a distraction”, he added: “As a general policy I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation. I think my track record matters more than these things.”

On the face of it, that’s a fair enough answer. But it’s not the answer that people will have heard.

Most viewers would have noticed him sidestepping the questions and come to the reasonable conclusion that, yes, Sunak does have private healthcare but doesn’t want to admit it.

For a prime minister who came to office promising “integrity”, that’s not a great look.

And that’s before we come to the question of whether the man who is ultimately in charge of the National Health Service should have a private GP on standby should he need one.

It was no great surprise that Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing urged the prime minister to “come clean”, or that Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey believes he is “completely out of touch”.

But it felt significant that Andy Haldane, the non-partisan former Bank of England economist, said there was “absolutely a case for people coming clean”.

“It need not matter, people’s private choices, provided that doesn’t detract from their views on the public provision of health,” he said.

A better answer by Sunak would have seen him admit that he does have private health cover - most reasonable people would not be shocked that someone as wealthy as him does - but that it would not detract from his determination to sort out the NHS crisis.

The short-term political hit would have been quickly forgotten, and voters would have appreciated his honesty.

Instead, he opted for the worst of all worlds by dodging the question.

For a prime minister who places great store in his slick communications, it was an unnecessary mis-step.

SIR KEIR'S NEO-LIBERAL LABOUR PARTY

Use private sector to tackle NHS waiting lists, urges Keir Starmer

Daniel Martin
Sat, January 7, 2023 

Sir Keir Starmer - Anadolu Agency

More than 200,000 extra patients on waiting lists could get treatment each year if private capacity was used effectively, Sir Keir Starmer said on Saturday night.

The Labour leader urged Rishi Sunak to match his party’s “bold” plans to tackle the waiting list crisis, as he highlighted 13 years of Tory “failure” on the NHS.

He told The Telegraph that Labour will “give Britain its NHS back” by “making the health service fit for the future" and using private sector capacity.

Sir Keir said Mr Sunak should “take his lead from Labour”, adding: “People waiting for a doctor’s appointment, test results, and terrifyingly, an ambulance need urgent action.

"Labour has a bold plan to slash waiting times by temporarily ramping up partnerships with private providers. I'm urging the Prime Minister to use it.

"But, although vital, it would be just a short reprieve. My Labour government would give Britain its NHS back, through a decade long programme of renewal and reform, to make the health service fit for the future. No more sticking plaster politics."

In a clear sign that he plans to align himself with the Blair era and reject the politics of Corbyn, the Labour leader highlighted his party’s plans to build bold partnerships with private hospitals.
Private hospitals currently operating under capacity

Private hospitals are operating under capacity at present, and Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has said such partnerships could see an additional 230,000 patients receiving treatment if their spare capacity was used for the NHS.

This is because the independent sector has the capacity to do 30 per cent more NHS work than they did before the pandemic, but this is not being used effectively.

This equates to an extra 230,000 patients a year.

Sir Keir has also promised to hand power and choice to patients across the UK through a new Take Back Control Act, and the establishment of a new National Care Service to tackle the social care crisis.

His call comes 13 years after David Cameron kicked off his party’s general election campaign by claiming he would “cut the deficit, not the NHS”.
New analysis shows NHS deterioration under Tories

But new analysis from Labour lays bare how on various measurements, the NHS has got worse over those 13 years in five areas.

First, a total of 7.2 million people are now waiting for treatment. Even before the pandemic this number was 4.6million, but when Labour left office it was just 2.6 million.

Second, four in 10 people attending A&E now wait more than four hours to be seen. Under Labour, 95 per cent of patients were seen in under four hours.

Third, a quarter of all patients admitted currently wait more than four hours to get onto a ward. Under Labour, fewer than one in 50 admitted patients faced waits of more than four hours.

Fourth, more than 1.3 million people are currently waiting more than a month to see their GP – and there are currently 4,500 fewer GPs in England than a decade ago.

And fifth, public satisfaction with the NHS is now at a 25-year low of 36 per cent. By the end of Labour’s time in office it was at a high of 70 per cent.

Starmer attacks Tories over NHS crisis and claims ‘we desperately need a change’

Bill McLoughlin
Sun, January 8, 2023 

(Sky News )

Keir Starmer has attacked the Tories for the current NHS crisis as he claimed the country “ desperately needs achange”.

After Rishi Sunak met health and social care leaders on Saturday, Sir Keir claimed the NHS isn’t just “on its knees, it’s on its face”.

Acknowledging the need for a new Government, Sir Keir told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge: “We’ve got to acknowledge that the health service is not just on its knees, it’s on its face there are 7.2 million people on the waiting list.

"Speak to anyone who works in the NHS and they’ll tell you just how stressed it is. My wife works in the NHS so I know this first hand."

He added: "Just at the moment we’ve got a crisis and it’s the worst crisis we’ve ever had and that’s because we’ve had 13 years of neglect.

“Of course Covid put extra pressure on the NHS but the waiting lists were 4.6 million before we went in to Covid."

Despite the current winter crisis within the NHS, Mr Sunak welcomed the positive talks which were held at Downing Street on Saturday.

The Prime Minister has pledged to the public that he will reduce hospital waiting times, cut the numbers of those crossing the Channel on small boats and reduce inflation as part of his promises to the public.

Despite the Prime Minister’s pledges, Sir Keir added: “2023 is the chance for us to set out what a bold reforming Labour government will do.”

“We desperately need change. What I want to do is to set out that case for change, not just what the change will be, but also how we’re going to bring it.”

Nursing union has ‘chink of optimism’ over Sunak’s ‘little pay shift’

Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen will be among the union leaders meeting Steve Barclay for talks on Monday.


Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen (centre) joins members of the RCN on the picket line (PA) / PA Wire

By Sam Blewett

Rishi Sunak raised a glimmer of hope that future nursing strikes could be averted by saying he was willing to discuss pay, but indicated he would not negotiate over the current deal.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen said she had a “chink of optimism” after noticing a “little shift” in the Prime Minister’s stance on Sunday.

Mr Sunak declined to describe the NHS as being in crisis, despite Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warning the health service is not just on its knees but “on its face”.

The Prime Minister also refused to say whether he uses private healthcare as Britons struggle with long waiting lists to see GPs and receive treatment.

Ms Cullen will be among the union leaders meeting Steve Barclay for talks on Monday, but the Health Secretary wants to focus negotiations on a new pay deal for 2023/24.

The RCN head has urged ministers to meet nurses halfway on their pay rise demands for the current financial year and will strike in England on January 18 and 19 without a breakthrough.

The Prime Minister told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that Monday’s talks are “really important”, but he indicated only the next financial year’s pay is up for discussion.

“When it comes to pay we’ve always said we want to talk about things that are reasonable, that are affordable and responsible for the country,” Mr Sunak said.

“We are about to start a new pay settlement round for this year, we’re about to start that independent process, and before that process starts the Government is keen to sit down with the unions and talk about pay and make sure they understand where we’re coming from.”

Ms Cullen told Mr Sunak to “grasp the nettle, come to the table” as she indicated cautious hopes for resolving the long-running dispute.

She told the BBC: “When I listened to that there was a chink of optimism and there was a little shift in what the Prime Minister was saying.”

However, she added: “This is not about negotiations tomorrow, it’s not about nurses’ pay and it’s not addressing the issues that are our dispute and that is addressing pay in 2022/23.”

A Department of Health and Social Care source insisted the position on not negotiating on the current financial year’s pay settlement remains “unchanged”.

Mr Barclay said in the Sunday Telegraph he will take a “constructive approach” to negotiations on April’s pay review, suggesting increases are on the table if unions agree to efficiency savings to make higher salaries more “affordable”.

Sir Keir has urged ministers to negotiate with striking health workers and to alleviate the sprawling NHS waiting lists, describing the institution as being in “the worst crisis we’ve ever had” after “13 years of neglect”.

The Labour leader told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “We’ve got to acknowledge that the health service is not just on its knees, it’s on its face.”

But Mr Sunak repeatedly declined to describe the NHS as being in crisis, instead saying it is “under pressure” and experiencing “unacceptable delays”, after he held emergency talks with health leaders over the weekend.

He was also told to “come clean” by Ms Cullen after refusing to say whether he uses private healthcare.

Under sustained questioning, Mr Sunak told the BBC: “As a general policy I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation.

“But it’s not really relevant, what’s relevant is the difference I can make to the country.”

Mr Barclay has pledged to take further steps to “improve the flow through our hospitals” on Monday, with around 13,000 NHS beds blocked by delays in discharging payments.

The Sunday Times reported that an emergency winter pressure package will include a hospital discharge fund for thousands of NHS patients to be moved to care home beds.

Thousands of beds could be block-bought by the Government under the strategy, which is hoped to have an effect within a month.

Sunak backs ‘radical’ action to resolve healthcare crisis

Hospital and ambulance staff have launched rare strike action – in the case of the nurses, for the first time in 100 years – with many members of the public sympathetic to their cause.

• Kimberly Rodrigues
 
• 08 January, 2023

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – Image Credit: Getty Images

By: Kimberly Rodrigues

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday called for “bold and radical” action to reform the crisis-hit state healthcare system as he held emergency talks with health leaders.

After years of underfinancing, BY THE TORIES the NHS state-funded health service is struggling to meet the demand for emergency medical care during a particularly difficult winter with high rates of coronavirus and flu.

Hospital and ambulance staff have launched rare strike action — in the case of the nurses, for the first time in 100 years — with many members of the public sympathetic to their cause.

Nurses are calling for a salary hike to reflect inflation soaring above 10 percent.

After being accused of inaction, Sunak was hosting England’s chief medical officer Chris Witty, and NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard at Downing Street on Saturday.

The meeting came ahead of talks planned between government officials and union leaders on Monday, aimed at ending the strikes.

“During the pandemic we had to bring boldness and radicalism to how we did things in order to get through,” the prime minister was quoted as saying by Downing Street.

“I think we need that same bold and radical approach now.”

He added: “Together today, we can figure out the things that will make the biggest difference to the country and everyone’s family, in the short and medium term.”

In a speech this week Sunak set out five priorities for 2023 including shortening NHS waiting lists.

The general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing union, Pat Cullen, told BBC radio that she would attend the Monday talks with the health minister Steve Barclay.

At the same time she said that Sunak should negotiate with nurses directly to prevent planned further strike action on January 18 and 19.

“He needs to come to the negotiation table with me and he needs to put money on that table, and it needs to be about the current year,” she told the BBC.

– AFP

DOUBLE DIPPING

Ex-UK PM Theresa May tops list of UK MP’s earning from side hustles

Britain's former Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement on Brexit negotiations.

KA CHING

Bloomberg
Published: 08 January ,2023

Former prime minister Theresa May has earned over £2.5 million (USD$3.02 million) on top of her official salary from outside engagements since the last general election, the most of any UK member of Parliament, according to an investigation by Sky News reports.

Overall, parliamentarians earned £17.1 million (USD$20.6 million) extra since late 2019 on top of their individual £84,144 (USD$101,755) annual salaries. Two thirds of the larger amount went to just 20 MPs and of those, 17 were from the ruling Conservative party, two from Labour and one was from Sinn Fein. Sky spent seven months compiling a database of the earnings based on regulatory filings by the MPs and posted a search tool to allow people to see how much their local MPs earned and who was paying them.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson ranked third, but could soon overtake May as the top earner. He took in more than £1 million since stepping down last year. Most of his earnings came from four speeches in October and November. One of these paid him at a rate of £32,500 (USD$39,302) per hour, Sky said.

Two Labour MPs were among the top 20 earners even though their party leader Keir Starmer has previously called for second jobs to be banned.

“I think we should get rid of second jobs with some exceptions,” Starmer told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday “I am open to a discussion on this. I think the rules should stricter.”

The revelations come a little over a year after Conservative MP Owen Paterson resigned amid a lobbying scandal. The controversy prompted a review of the rules and further limits are due to be placed on the sort of work lawmakers can engage in.

UK
Nurses urge Sunak to ‘grasp the nettle and come to the table’ for pay negotiations


Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on the picket line outside St Thomas' Hospital, central London, as nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland take industrial action over pay. Picture date: Tuesday December 20, 2022.

FURTHER national nursing strikes could be averted following a “little shift” in Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s stance, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) suggested today.

General secretary Pat Cullen, due to join other union leaders in a meeting with Health Secretary Steve Barclay today, said there is a “chink of optimism” after the former chancellor suggested he is “keen to talk about pay.”

But a Department of Health and Social Care source insisted that the government’s position remains “unchanged,” with ministers only willing to discuss a settlement for 2023-24 and not this year’s below-inflation 4.75 per cent deal.

Ms Cullen also demanded that the PM, the wealthiest MP in the Commons, “comes clean” after he refused to say whether he uses private healthcare.

Under sustained questioning, Mr Sunak, whose family is thought to be worth £730 million, told the BBC that the issue is “not really relevant,” adding: “As a general policy I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation.”

He declined to describe the NHS as being in crisis, despite Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warning the health service is not just on its knees but “on its face” amid spiralling A&E wait times and a shortage of GPs.

The RCN, which launched its first ever national strike last month, has repeatedly warned ministers that yet another real-terms wage cut will exacerbate a staff exodus and put unbearable pressure on austerity-hit services.

The union urged Mr Sunak to “grasp the nettle and come to the table” after he told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that he wanted to discuss a “reasonable, affordable and responsible” salary deal.

He said: “We are about to start a new pay settlement round for [2023-24], and before that process starts the government is keen to sit down with unions and talk about pay and make sure they understand where we’re coming from.”

Ms Cullen told the same programme: “When I listened to that there was a chink of optimism — there was a little shift in what the PM was saying.

“This is not about negotiations tomorrow, it’s not about nurses’ pay and it’s not addressing the issues of our dispute — addressing pay in 2022-23.”

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the PM is “taking our nurses and ambulance workers for fools.”

“These talks are about next year’s pay settlements and will do nothing to resolve today’s issues,” she said.

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