Nursing staff warn Welsh government their pay system is broken
The result of the consultation shows growing frustration among staff over pay, working conditions, and the ongoing pressures facing the NHS.
The RCN is demanding an overhaul of the NHS' outdated Agenda for Change pay structure, which it claims has failed members for more than 20 years.
Helen Whyley, executive director of RCN Wales, said: 'With the highest turnout ever 3.6 per cent is not enough for nursing staff – they deserve to be listened to.
"The commitments made in 2023 of pay restoration, and reviewing career progression have become government rhetoric and made no impact on our members reality.
'Pay is not just a number – it reflects a package of terms and working conditions that shape how acknowledged, supported and motivated staff feel in their roles.
'In under a year, all our members will go to the polls. They feel desperately undervalued by the current government. That will stay the case unless they unveil major reforms in the remaining months and not just election promises.'
The RCN is now considering what next steps it should take in consultation with its members.
These may include a ballot for industrial action.
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Spectator
5 hours ago
- Spectator
The many blind spots in Nicola Sturgeon's memoir
Throughout her memoir, Nicola Sturgeon emphasises her achievement in becoming the first female first minister of Scotland. While that achievement should not be underestimated, I'm sure I'm not the only woman who wishes she made a better job of it. It's not just her determined blind spot on the implications of self-identification for women's rights which emerges from this memoir, but also the fact that her much trumpeted support for women, including those under attack in the public forum, seems not to extend to those who dare to disagree with her. There is widespread recognition that Nicola's legacy is marred not just by the self-identification fiasco but by other notable policy failings in the fields of education, the NHS, drug deaths and public transport (ferries and roads). Not to mention her failure to advance the raison d'etre for her political career, Scottish independence, beyond the point to which her predecessor took it. Yet she has remarkably little to say about these issues in her memoir. For example, on her failure to close the educational attainment gap she claims that it took her a while to realise the role played by child poverty. This is hardly rocket science. Besides, the child poverty payment which she finally introduced in February 2021 was a policy which she initially dismissed out of hand when it was first presented to her by Alex Neil five years earlier in February 2016. But she doesn't mention that. Clearly, she considers her handling of the Covid pandemic to be her greatest triumph. She cites the exhaustion it induced as one of the reasons for her resignation and says she came close to a breakdown in the wake of her evidence to the Covid inquiry. Yet, the chapter on Covid is curiously silent on some of the biggest concerns which have come to light since her daily broadcasts to the nation ended. Care home deaths merit a brief mention but there is no analysis or justification of strategy that led to them. Nor does she even attempt to justify the deletion of her WhatsApp messages despite her promise to a journalist to keep them. Nicola is very keen to remind us, repeatedly, of her love for books. But for all her reading, this book, like her speeches, is curiously short on big ideas or indeed literary references. Except for a very superficial treatment in the opening chapters there is little insight into why she is a Scottish nationalist and which political theories she espouses. Even where she does attempt to address difficult issues such as her sexuality, she dances around the issue and the reader is left not quite sure what she is trying to say. The confusion has not been cleared up by her media interviews during the publicity storm surrounding the book. Reflections on life as a woman in politics is one of two themes which dominates this memoir. The other is a thorough traducing of her predecessor and one-time mentor. Alex Salmond is clearly living rent free in her head except he isn't because he's dead and some think that's in no small part due to the treatment he endured at her hands. Not content with the fact that he's now gone and can never again be a threat to her, large parts of this book are devoted to further besmirching his character. Before the book was even published, Salmond's political friends and independent observers like the highly respected former Green MSP Andy Wightman and the journalist David Clegg, were able to debunk some of the allegations against him. These include the ludicrous notion that Salmond himself might have been the author of the leak which led to the media storm around allegations that he was a sex pest and that he was opposed to gay marriage despite him having introduced it as first minister. The minister he entrusted with doing so, Alex Neil, claims that Salmond handed him the equal marriage brief because, 'Nicola didn't want to do it any longer as she was fed up with it.' Despite her efforts to heap further opprobrium on Salmond, Sturgeon scorns the idea that there was any conspiracy to do Salmond down and that she was involved. She states that there was neither evidence nor motive and leaves it at that. Thus, she avoids addressing the evidence of conspiracy that has been adduced by others – some of which has been revealed under parliamentary privilege by David Davis MP and Kenny MacAskill (former MP and leader of the Alba party) – including the existence of WhatsApp messages by her husband, Peter Murrell and other close aides in which the suborning of evidence against Salmond was discussed alongside how best to pressurise the police to act. Ironically the motive for removing Salmond from the political scene emerges in the glaring resentment of him displayed in her book. In addition, anyone who's been paying attention to Scottish politics knows that he was manoeuvring to make a leadership comeback after she suffered one of her biggest setbacks with the loss of 21 SNP MPs in the 2017 general election. In contrast to her constant attacks on Salmond, her memoir is remarkably light on any explanation as to why she was unable to capitalise on the extraordinary legacy which he bequeathed her. Independence support was at its highest level ever and an explosion in SNP membership and support led to the party capturing almost 50 per cent of the vote at the 2015 general election. There is very little discussion of her strategy to capitalise on the opportunities afforded to advance the cause of independence during the Brexit saga and Boris Johnson's premiership. She sums the situation up by saying independence could not be advanced because the British government would not grant her the permission to hold another referendum. However, she does not explain what if anything she tried to do about this apart from repeatedly banging her head against the brick wall of their refusal. She also omits any reference to the viciousness with which she and her supporters shut down any attempt to discuss or debate a Plan B. Likewise, there is no discussion of what advantage she might have tried to parlay in the 2017-2019 when her 35 SNP MPs were close to holding the balance of power at Westminster. Presumably because there was no discussion at the time. I know because I was there and was pilloried for trying to initiate such a discussion. Indeed, the reader will search in vain for anecdotes about the sort of tortured policy debates in cabinet or at the party's national executive committee one normally reads about in political memoirs, because, under Nicola's leadership, such discussions were neither encouraged nor tolerated. She writes that as soon as Boris Johnson became PM she knew there would be another general election. There is no mention of the opportunity that was afforded to take Johnson down after the UK Supreme Court had ruled his prorogation of parliament unlawful. Indeed, the unlawful prorogation, the most extraordinary upheaval in modern British constitutional history, does not even merit a mention. I can only assume that this is because she failed to appreciate its significance, rather than because I was partly the author of the court victory. On the scandal surrounding the SNP finances we hear little except about the impact the police investigation has had on her and her joy at her 'exoneration'. Further discussion, she tells us, cannot happen because of the charges against her husband. How convenient. I guess we shall have to wait for another day to hear why she so determinedly shut down legitimate questions from party members and NEC representatives about the whereabouts of a £600,000 independence referendum fund that was supposed to be ringfenced. At the Edinburgh Book Festival last week she performed for a gathering of her dwindling fan base, while her legacy played out elsewhere in the festival city. There were rows raging over censorship by the Book Festival and the National Library of Scotland of the book, The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht (written by feminists, sex abuse survivors and lesbians). Kate Forbes, the woman who in a more mature Scotland might have been Nicola's successor, was banned from a fringe venue. After over an hour with her adoring fans, Nicola spent a very tetchy 14 minutes with Scotland's broadcast media and print journalists having cancelled all other planned interviews with them. In her political afterlife, as in her political life, she evades real scrutiny. For those hoping to understand better what was really going on behind the scenes during her leadership, this memoir will disappoint. It will be left to other memoirs to shed more light on what was really going on.
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Reform says Welsh party leader 'not important' for 2025 election
A senior member of Reform UK has said having a party leader in Wales is not important for the Senedd election in May. Llŷr Powell, the party's former head of communications in Wales, said the focus was on electing a parliament, and that a leader would be chosen during the also would not rule out using the private sector to cut NHS waiting lists, and said protecting Welsh culture in language strongholds was not a priority. Questions remain over who will lead Reform UK in Wales, but Powell said the process was "open to everyone"."At the moment it's not something we see as important," he said. Powell spoke to BBC-produced Newyddion S4C in the second of a series of interviews with senior figures from the main political said the party would be ready for the Senedd election next May, with more details on policies and candidates to follow. "We have not built what we want on this ground," Powell said. "There are over 16,000 members of the party and we hope by the end of the year to have the names of those standing for us and also our policies." Powell said the health service was one of the subjects that worried the Welsh electorate. When asked whether Reform UK would turn to the private sector to tackle waiting lists he refused to rule it out, saying that "everything must be looked at".But when questioned further about privatisation, he said: "I'm not sure at the moment."He added that more people needed to be attracted to the health sector, and that the party wanted to look at "where we are wasting money" to be able to fund more doctors in Wales."In England we have found a lot of money and we can do it here," Powell said. Immigration is a key issue for Reform UK supporters, with the party saying it wants to "protect British identity".But Powell said safeguarding Welsh culture was not a priority, and that immigration was not a problem in Welsh-language strongholds such as the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd."The immigration policies we have published recently, I believe that people are clear about what we are saying," he Welsh Parliament is set to increase to 90 members ahead of the next election, which Reform UK has said is unnecessary. Powell said he would "like to see the numbers go down", although he added he was "not sure what the dynamics are going to be".
Spectator
a day ago
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Defence Secretary slams Farage as ‘Putin apologist'
Ding ding ding! John Healey was pulling no punches this morning as he took aim at Reform UK on the airwaves. Nigel Farage's party has slammed Prime Minister Keir Starmer for presiding over a 'democratic disparity' because despite having four MPs and managing ten councils, the party has no representation in the House of Lords. But when quizzed on the accusation today on LBC, the Defence Secretary was having none of it. 'I'm not sure that parliament's going to benefit from more Putin apologists like Nigel Farage, to be honest.' Shots fired! When pushed on whether this description may be a little strong, Healey refused to back down. He added: Look at what he's said about Russia, look at what he's said about Putin in the past. Look what he said in the middle of the general election campaign. At this point, when maximum pressure needs to be put on Putin to support Ukraine in negotiations, when the maximum condemnation of Putin is required from someone who is sitting down with Trump in Alaska but turning up the attacks on Ukraine, it needs all voices. And I have to say, the voice of Reform is conspicuously absent in any of our discussions and any of our defence debates about Ukraine and about Russia. And I'd really welcome Nigel Farage weighing in alongside us and the other parties in the House of Commons to condemn Putin and to work, as we're trying to do as well, to reinforce the prospects of peace. The remarks come after Farage criticised Starmer for not having asked Reform to nominate any peers, with convention being that No. 10 asks opposition party leaders to nominate candidates for peerages. But it's not the first time Starmer's army has blasted Farage over Russia, with the Prime Minister in May telling MPs that Farage was 'a state-slashing, NHS-privatising Putin apologist without a single patriotic bone in his body'. In 2024, Healey said the Reform man 'would rather lick Vladimir Putin's boots than stand up for the people of Ukraine'. It's the latest in Labour's ramped-up attacks on Reform UK, after Science and Tech Secretary Peter Kyle last month accused Farage of siding with 'people like Jimmy Savile' over his party's pledge to repeal the Online Safety Act. The gloves are coming off…
