WITH a second wave of coronavirus on the horizon and hospital admissions rising, NHS nurses and health workers will once again be in the eye of the storm as they provide life-saving care and treatment to those most seriously unwell with coronavirus.

The first peak of the pandemic has already taken an enormous physical and psychological toll on NHS staff and they believed that this government would reward their unique and vital contribution to society.

These health staff are heading onto the front line of the second wave of this virus feeling utterly betrayed by a government which chose to deliberately overlook them in the last announcement on public-sector pay.

We have already lost too many of our NHS staff to the virus and we stand to lose more — because privatisation is seriously compromising the battle to protect hospital staff from Covid-19 and stop its transmission.

The entire country will be relying on a depleted NHS workforce to deliver excellent care against the odds.

The #NHSpay15 campaign has been born out of the sheer frustration of nurses and others who are overextending themselves on a daily basis to plug the gaping holes left by successive government policies that have decimated NHS services.

NHS staff see their colleagues leaving the service in droves because so many have reached the conclusion that all of the knowledge, skills and experience they have acquired is only being met with deteriorating pay, terms and conditions.

Most NHS workers know that serving time in a front-line role gives them the type of crucial and invaluable experience that cannot be gained from study but this experience is no longer valued.

In most other jobs experience is rewarded with a pay rise, but not in nursing, where the last three-year pay deal did not offer long-serving staff the pay rise they need.

Nurses and others came into the NHS not because they want to become millionaires but because they want to care for patients — but their goodwill has been stretched to breaking point by a government that offers platitudes but no real material improvements to their working lives.

With coronavirus hospital admissions on the rise, the running of the NHS will once again be a central concern in this country and the treatment of NHS staff is key to safe and effective service delivery.

Given the current conditions, it is more important than ever before to get on with the difficult work of unionising and organising NHS staff and this is why GMB union is holding a national online NHS meeting on Tuesday September 29 at 7pm.

We are aiming to build the #NHSpay15 campaign even further.

We want the very best health activists to join our ranks and get fully involved in organising their own workplaces knowing that the full weight and support of the GMB trade union will be firmly behind them.

We won’t stop with unionising the NHS and we will link up and work with hospital campaigners too.

We will encourage anyone with an interest in ensuring that the right to free healthcare is not further eroded to stand shoulder to shoulder with skilled and experienced nursing and health staff because too far many are leaving the NHS for good and this puts patients at risk.[[{"fid":"24711","view_mode":"inlineleft","fields":{"format":"inlineleft","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineleft","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false}},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":"362","width":"660","class":"media-element file-inlineleft","data-delta":"1"}}]]

There is also a People’s Assembly meeting to be held this Thursday from 7pm, which aims to link up NHS staff, NHS campaigners, trade unionists and others to discuss and plan the important work that is ahead of all of us.

We recognise that the #NHSpay15 campaign is not just NHS staff fighting for pay, it is a struggle to protect standards within the NHS for all of us.

It’s high time for anyone who is serious about protecting the NHS to firmly swing behind the important #NHSpay15 campaign.

Helen O’Connor is GMB Southern Region organiser.