Day two at Idomeni - March 17th
Today was slightly better than yesterday. There hasn't been any rain for two days so the camp has started to dry out. I assisted one of the coordinators with a tent check last night; they do this every night and it involves walking around the whole camp looking for individuals or families in obvious distress who needed a tent for shelter. The coordinator said the last few days had been horrendous with the constant rain and the border closure, thankfully with the end of the rainfall, and the fact hundreds had abandoned the camp, we didn't find anyone whose situation was too bad. A man needed a tent as he was sleeping outside due to lack of space in his tent (his wife and four kids were all in there) and another family were squatting in an old railway building and needed a tent for added protection against the cold, but that was it. We also dropped off a tent for a newly wed couple who were travelling with their extended family. They had married one week before they left Turkey, thinking it would be a short journey to Germany with their family. Six weeks later and still stuck in Greece they were desperate for their own tent for some privacy. We also put up a UNHCR tent to provide some better quality housing for the most vulnerable families. There are dozens of pregnant women in the camp, several of them 8 months pregnant and staying in appalling conditions. The volunteer coordinators try and identify vulnerable families and individuals to the NGOs like MSF who can then transfer them to the better quality tents. To give some idea of how bad things had been previously, the depth of need, and lack of resources; just to qualify for an extra tent a family or group had to have at least three or four children under two years old. Volunteers had to establish this fact before they would be given a tent to give to the family. Thankfully as things improve resources are less stringently managed, but it's still a horrible job having to ration resources only for the worst affected, when everyone is so obviously suffering. One coordinator put it that "we came here because of our hearts, but when here we have to think with our heads, and stop using our hearts".
Thursday, 28 April 2016
Idomeni Diary: Day 1
From the 16th to the 21st March I visited Idomeni refugee camp in Greece to assist with the volunteer relief efforts. The following posts contain pictures of the camp and an account of my time there.
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| Hotel Polikastro, the unofficial volunteer center |
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| Warehouse for storing items for distribution at the camps |
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| UNHCR tents, fresh shelters for vulnerable refugees |
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
Will the Junior Doctors strike be sold short?
The strike action by junior doctors has been historic and brave, but there is a real risk that the potential of the strike is wasted. The fight against the contract, and the wider fight to save what remains of the NHS could be set back if the strikes don’t realise their full potential, and instead settle for a compromise.
From the start the Junior Doctors Committee (JDC) have emphasised their main aim is to secure a fair contract for doctors. While the mass of junior doctors on protests, in the media and on strike have emphasised they see their fight as being to protect the NHS.
This focus on the nature of the contract omits the context of the attacks (which the wider community of doctors are well aware of), that the contract changes are part of much broader attacks on pay and conditions across the NHS. When seen in isolation, a demand for a fair contract may seem realistic, but against the backdrop of pay freezes, widespread down banding, cuts and privatisation, the new contract is an integral part of the plan to dismantle the NHS, and not something the government will concede on easily.
If the aim really is a fair contract, the JDC needs to demand an improvement in conditions, and escalate its actions until the government begins to grant them concessions, not the other way round. However, rather than setting the status quo as a non-negotiable minimum, and advancing a set of demands to improve the contract, the JDC have gone into negotiations and repeatedly made concessions to the government.
Details are hard to come by as the JDC has kept the details of what is being negotiated secret from its members, a problem in itself, but its understood the five “redlines” that the JDC had initially have now been reduced to one; that Saturday remain an unsocial hours day. This has been born out in the leaked details of an offer made to the government by BMA negotiators.
Granting concessions only gives doctors less to fight for, while the on again, off again nature of the strikes demoralises members and disorganises local activists. The constant entering into negotiations and demobilising of strike action disrupts the service more than regular, planned strike action, and gives the government more time to campaign in the media against the strike with resources we could never dream of.
Last year other health unions suspended strikes with only a paltry pay offer on the table, this killed the momentum of the dispute and when it was put to the members to vote only 17% of UNISON members bothered to participate, not wanting the deal but not trusting their union to lead an effective fight either.
Junior Doctor leaders need to be bold and brave and advance a vision of a better, safer contract for the NHS, and put forward a plan of strike actions and protests and stick to it until the government gives them what they want. The privatising, austerity-driven government won’t give NHS staff anything unless we pressure them. Junior Doctors are in a unique and powerful position to strike a blow against the governments plans. Don’t waste it!
From the start the Junior Doctors Committee (JDC) have emphasised their main aim is to secure a fair contract for doctors. While the mass of junior doctors on protests, in the media and on strike have emphasised they see their fight as being to protect the NHS.
This focus on the nature of the contract omits the context of the attacks (which the wider community of doctors are well aware of), that the contract changes are part of much broader attacks on pay and conditions across the NHS. When seen in isolation, a demand for a fair contract may seem realistic, but against the backdrop of pay freezes, widespread down banding, cuts and privatisation, the new contract is an integral part of the plan to dismantle the NHS, and not something the government will concede on easily.
If the aim really is a fair contract, the JDC needs to demand an improvement in conditions, and escalate its actions until the government begins to grant them concessions, not the other way round. However, rather than setting the status quo as a non-negotiable minimum, and advancing a set of demands to improve the contract, the JDC have gone into negotiations and repeatedly made concessions to the government.
Details are hard to come by as the JDC has kept the details of what is being negotiated secret from its members, a problem in itself, but its understood the five “redlines” that the JDC had initially have now been reduced to one; that Saturday remain an unsocial hours day. This has been born out in the leaked details of an offer made to the government by BMA negotiators.
Granting concessions only gives doctors less to fight for, while the on again, off again nature of the strikes demoralises members and disorganises local activists. The constant entering into negotiations and demobilising of strike action disrupts the service more than regular, planned strike action, and gives the government more time to campaign in the media against the strike with resources we could never dream of.
Last year other health unions suspended strikes with only a paltry pay offer on the table, this killed the momentum of the dispute and when it was put to the members to vote only 17% of UNISON members bothered to participate, not wanting the deal but not trusting their union to lead an effective fight either.
Junior Doctor leaders need to be bold and brave and advance a vision of a better, safer contract for the NHS, and put forward a plan of strike actions and protests and stick to it until the government gives them what they want. The privatising, austerity-driven government won’t give NHS staff anything unless we pressure them. Junior Doctors are in a unique and powerful position to strike a blow against the governments plans. Don’t waste it!
Thursday, 10 December 2015
Will the NHS survive another winter crisis?
This article is reposted from OpenDemocracy, where it was published back in October. I'm republishing it here as the winter crisis is starting to bite, and our hospitals are full to over capacity, putting patients at risk and pushing staff beyond their limits.
This Saturday’s doctors' march could be the start of a vital NHS-wide fight-back against cuts and demoralisation. The alternative is frightening.
Over fifteen thousands of doctors marched down Whitehall this weekend, in protest at the imposition of a new contract. The contract sets a dangerous norm which could be applied to other NHS staff. It permits longer working hours, including til 10pm on Saturday as ‘normal’, and slower pay progression for part-time workers (disproportionately women).
This Saturday’s doctors' march could be the start of a vital NHS-wide fight-back against cuts and demoralisation. The alternative is frightening.
Over fifteen thousands of doctors marched down Whitehall this weekend, in protest at the imposition of a new contract. The contract sets a dangerous norm which could be applied to other NHS staff. It permits longer working hours, including til 10pm on Saturday as ‘normal’, and slower pay progression for part-time workers (disproportionately women).
These signs of opposition from doctors are much needed. Staff morale is being crushed. Workloads are spiralling as a further £22bn budget cut by 2020 is imposed. A quarter of staff report management bullying as pressure is piled on to meet targets. Running short of staff, management turn to expensive private agency firms, who have increased their costs to the NHS from £1.8 billion in to £3.3 billion in just three years.
Sunday, 9 August 2015
Why we need independent worker/professional organization in the NHS
Over the past year there has been a growth in organization and activism among NHS staff, and increasing engagement in speaking out about the appalling conditions the NHS is being driven to by austerity.
This is an enormously positive development and can not come soon enough. NHS privatisation is rapidly accelerating and engulfing more of the service daily, and the government is committed to limiting the NHS budget in order to force $ 22 billion of savings out of the service over the next 5 years, an impossible target which if met would mean wholesale destruction of huge swathes of service, and much damage to patient's and staff's lives.
Much of the organising has taken place on social media, beginning with doctors and healthworkers speaking out during last winter's A & E crisis, laying the blame publicly on government policy for the crisis. It has been organized around certain campains, like the NHS Bill 2015 campaign for the NHS reinstatement bill, or the Resilient GP campaign around Dr Meirion Thomas. The issue which galvinised the biggest coordinated response was Jeremy Hunt's attacks on Consultants and doctors in general for not working weekends. This generated the #Iminworkjeremy hashtag which was taken up by thousands of healthworkers across the country and received widespread media coverage.
There are indications that activists are now taking steps to cohere this newly politicized layer of healthworkers into organization, forming organizations like NHS Survival. This is necessary as while social media campaigns can secure some victories and raise awareness, they are not enough to secure changes in government policy, or management policy in the workplace.
The next goal for activists should be developing coordination and organization among activists nationally, with the aim of developing local workplace organization which can connect this newly energized and engaged layer with the rest of the NHS workforce, so they can be organized and mobilized together against the governments attacks .
This is an enormously positive development and can not come soon enough. NHS privatisation is rapidly accelerating and engulfing more of the service daily, and the government is committed to limiting the NHS budget in order to force $ 22 billion of savings out of the service over the next 5 years, an impossible target which if met would mean wholesale destruction of huge swathes of service, and much damage to patient's and staff's lives.
Much of the organising has taken place on social media, beginning with doctors and healthworkers speaking out during last winter's A & E crisis, laying the blame publicly on government policy for the crisis. It has been organized around certain campains, like the NHS Bill 2015 campaign for the NHS reinstatement bill, or the Resilient GP campaign around Dr Meirion Thomas. The issue which galvinised the biggest coordinated response was Jeremy Hunt's attacks on Consultants and doctors in general for not working weekends. This generated the #Iminworkjeremy hashtag which was taken up by thousands of healthworkers across the country and received widespread media coverage.
There are indications that activists are now taking steps to cohere this newly politicized layer of healthworkers into organization, forming organizations like NHS Survival. This is necessary as while social media campaigns can secure some victories and raise awareness, they are not enough to secure changes in government policy, or management policy in the workplace.
The next goal for activists should be developing coordination and organization among activists nationally, with the aim of developing local workplace organization which can connect this newly energized and engaged layer with the rest of the NHS workforce, so they can be organized and mobilized together against the governments attacks .
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Government u-turn on safe nursing levels branded a "betrayal" by Mid-Staffs campaigners
This article was originally published on OpenDemocracy
Independent work on safer ratios of nurses to patients across the NHS, was a key recommendation of the Francis inquiry into failings at Stafford hospital. This week, the government quietly shut that work down.
In a shock move, the government has abandoned its key project to ensure hospitals have enough nurses to look after patients safely. The move comes in response to a speech yesterday by NHS England boss Simon Stevens, who told a conference of NHS leaders in Liverpool that he wanted to move away from the “more mechanistic approach to the setting of nurse staffing ratios”.
In a shock move, the government has abandoned its key project to ensure hospitals have enough nurses to look after patients safely. The move comes in response to a speech yesterday by NHS England boss Simon Stevens, who told a conference of NHS leaders in Liverpool that he wanted to move away from the “more mechanistic approach to the setting of nurse staffing ratios”.
In response the clinical advisor NICE moved swiftly, with NICE chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon saying “I have taken the decision to suspend further work on our safe staffing programme, including any further meetings of the advisory committee.”
Setting safe staffing levels will now be carried out by Chief Nursing Officer Jane Cummings, as part of NHS England reviews of urgent and emergency care and mental health services. While it might seem sensible for the Chief Nurse to set safe staffing levels, this removes the process from the independent, clinical and evidence-based oversight of NICE and puts it firmly in the hands of a loyal government institution.
Thursday, 28 May 2015
It IS racist to worry about "foreign" nurses - a reply to Dr Max Pemberton
Max Pemberton's Daily Mail comment piece “It's NOT racist to worry about foreign nurses” is a truly shameful article of writing. Using the deranged actions of a single individual who happens to be Filipino as an excuse to mount a vicious, scapegoating and largely evidence-free defence of racist attitudes is just lazy journalism. And coming from Pemberton - usually one of the few medical commentators in the Tory press who's willing to actually defend the NHS - it's a double kick in the teeth'.
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