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The ongoing struggle for the NHS 
Although there have been setbacks in healthcare organising, nurses and other NHS workers are becoming more active and engaged in their trade unions and this is still a beacon of hope, says HELEN O’CONNOR
GROWING CONFIDENCE: Ambulance workers from the GMB gather on College Green, Westminster amid the recent industrial action across the NHS

AS ANYONE who has worked on the front line of the NHS and ambulance trusts knows, comprehensive healthcare in this country is being eroded by aggressive cutbacks, restructures and privatisation. 

Recent national strike action shone a light on the unprecedented scale of the struggle to deliver care safely. After decades of cutbacks there are not enough staff or beds to cope with demand in the NHS. And the policies of successive governments are to blame.

It is simply staggering, and reflective of decades of lull in trade union activity, that field medicine conditions are becoming normalised in one of the richest countries in the world.  

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