News from Dr Onkar Sahota: Calls for trade union talks at City Hall over NHS Brexit concerns

Dr Onkar Sahota AM calls for trade union talks at City Hall over NHS Brexit concerns

Labour’s London Assembly Health Spokesperson, Dr Onkar Sahota AM, has invited trade unions into City Hall for a series of Brexit impact meetings. Dr Sahota has called for the meetings following the annual Heart Unions week celebration of trade unionism. He said it was “doubly important” to hear the voice of health workers as the NHS faces “significant risks” with Brexit looming.

With NHS vacancies in London showing no improvement on last year, Dr Sahota is concerned that Brexit will push NHS staffing into crisis.

20,000 EU citizens work for the NHS in London – as many as one in five workers at some London NHS trusts. London’s social care firms are also more dependent on EU workers than anywhere else in the country, with 26,000 workers in the capital.

Dr Sahota has written to NHS trade unions to invite them into City Hall to discuss what more can be done to persuade EU health workers to stay, as well as to speed up recruiting other workers to fill the gaps.

Also on the agenda will be the impact of the new NHS Long Term Plan, which health experts have warned will fail unless the NHS make progress filling its 100,000 vacancies. Dr Sahota also plans to quiz union representatives over their priorities for putting the Long Term Plan into action in London.

In addition, he will raise concerns about the challenges the NHS face after being placed under the tightest spending limits since its foundation and the recent figures that show that the numbers of patients stuck in ambulances outside A&Es for more than an hour are up by a sixth so far this year.

The results of the discussions will be presented to the Mayor and London’s health leaders later in the spring.

Labour’s London Assembly Health Spokesperson, Dr Onkar Sahota AM, said:

“The coming months are a huge test for the NHS, which faces significant risks with Brexit looming. Not only does the UK’s exit from the EU present a vast task to replicate all the laws and regulations, it also disrupts recruitment to health services and adds a heavy load of no-deal planning.

“In the best of times, this would cause difficulties. But the NHS is still going through the tightest spending limits since its foundation. Numbers of patients stuck in ambulances outside A&Es for more than an hour are up by a sixth so far this year.

“That’s why I’m asking trade unions to share their expertise and the concerns of members. It is doubly important that the thousands of health workers in trade unions are heard in City Hall and across the NHS”.

ENDS