Health Secretary Steve Barclay expected to meet unions amid nurses’ strikes

Published

2 years ago

December 20, 2022

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Health Secretary Steve Barclay is expected to meet with members of Unite, Unison and GMB unions tomorrow amid further walkouts by nurses and ambulance workers.

It is understood that Mr Barclay wants assurances from union officials that Category 2 incidents – such as strokes or cases of serious chest pain – will be attended to during industrial action.

Sources say the health secretary will not discuss increasing wages during the fresh talks.

Both nurses and ambulance workers are set to stage walkouts this week amid ongoing anger over pay and working conditions.

The chief of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Pat Cullen, had suggested strikes would be called off if Mr Barclay opened up discussions over wages.

But a government source insisted Mr Barclay will only talk about “patient safety and non-pay issues”.

The RCN is demanding an inflation-matching pay rise plus 5% for its members, but the government will only offer around 4%, as recommended in the summer by an independent pay review body – before inflation hit record highs.

A spokesperson for the GMB union said: “He must start listening to what ambulance workers are saying – he needs to talk pay now.”

Speaking earlier, Rishi Sunak said the government had been “reasonable and fair” throughout negotiations, and increasing the offer would only increase inflation.

“We’re always happy to sit down and talk to people to try and work through difficult challenges like this,” he said. “That’s always been the case and when it comes to pay, it’s because these things are difficult, that we have an independent process.

“The government accepted those recommendations in full across the public sector, even though in many cases those recommendations were higher than what the government had originally suggested and indeed higher than what many people in the private sector are receiving.

“But the government increased its offer so it could accept those independent recommendations in full. I thought that was the reasonable and the fair thing to do.”

Mr Barclay told reporters on Monday that trade unions should accept the pay review figure, saying nurses he had spoken to had other concerns they wanted addressed.

“They also talk about the estate and our new hospitals building programme being really important to them,” said the health secretary.

“They talk about frustrations often with technology and how we need to invest more in that.

“They talk sometimes about some of the abuse that they receive and issues of safety and how we can work together to improve safety for staff.

“So there’s a range of issues that are raised by nurses with me.

“Pay is a factor and that’s why we have an independent process to look at that, but there’s a range of other things that also matter to staff, and I’m keen to work with the trade unions to address those concerns as well.”

Asked last night about reports Downing Street had blocked the idea of a one-off payment to nurses to prevent the strikes, Mr Barclay told reporters his conversations with Number 10 would remain private.

Meanwhile, the minister questioned the safety of the upcoming ambulance strikes.

Staff will still respond to the highest level of emergencies and are making plans for cover, while the government plans to bring in the armed forces to fill some of the gaps, with 1,200 troops expected to be deployed.

Department heads have also met this morning to discuss the strikes at an emergency government COBRA meeting.

But Mr Barclay claimed “the practical arrangements” had still not been confirmed by the unions at this late stage.

“It’s important that the trade unions honour the commitments that they’ve given to safeguard both life-threatening responses and emergency responses,” he said.

“It’s important that everyone prioritises patient safety, and in particular, those life-threatening and emergency calls.”

Unite leader Sharon Graham, who represents some ambulance workers, said the health secretary would “have to carry the can if patients suffer”, telling the Daily Mirror he was “holding the country to ransom” by refusing to discuss pay.

Unions have also attacked the plans to use armed forces personnel, saying they are not “sufficiently trained” and could even be a “hindrance”.

Senior military officials have also criticised the move, with the head of the armed forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, warning it was “perilous” to expect them to be used routinely to cover for strikes.

However, the Cabinet Office today published a new Resilience Framework, saying it would “strengthen how the UK prepares for and responds to emergencies” – including strike action – and it said it “envisaged” Army Reserves would “play a greater role in resilience operations and MACA (Military Aid to the Civil Authorities)” going forward.

Nurses and ambulances workers aren’t the only sectors taking industrial action this week, with rail workers, Border Force officials, driving examiners, highways workers, postal workers, and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff all staging walkouts.

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Earlier, the prime minister’s official spokesman said it was not too late to call the industrial action off, saying: “We would expect, given this late stage, there to be some sort of disruption either way but it is still in the gift of the unions to step back and reconsider their approach.

“We are open to further talks if they are willing to have them. We believe we have taken a fair and reasonable approach throughout, including by accepting the pay body’s recommendation in full.”

World

Mum of emaciated baby in Gaza says ‘I lost my husband… I don’t want to lose her’

Published

2 hours ago

May 23, 2025

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Mum of emaciated baby in Gaza says 'I lost my husband... I don't want to lose her'

In mid-May, the World Health Organisation assessed that there were “nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death”.

“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” its report concluded.

Warning: This article contains images of an emaciated child which some readers may find distressing

Israel‘s decision this week to reverse the siege and allow “a basic level of aid” into Gaza should help ease the immediate crisis.

But the number of aid trucks getting in, so far fewer than 100 per day, is considered dramatically too few by aid organisations working in Gaza, and the United Nations accuses Israel of continuing to block vital items.

Israel-Gaza latest: Gaza enduring ‘atrocious death and destruction’, UN boss warns

“Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in New York on Friday.

“Essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies, are prohibited. Nothing has reached the besieged north.”

Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies.

“Today, we receive between 300 to 500 cases daily, with approximately 10% requiring admission. This volume of inpatient cases far exceeds the capacity of Rantisi hospital, as the facility is not equipped to accommodate such large numbers,” Jall al Barawi, a doctor at the hospital, told us.

At least 94% of the hospitals have sustained some damage, some considerable, according to the UN.

Paramedic crews are close to running out of fuel to drive ambulances.

The lack of food, after an 11-week blockade, has left thousands malnourished and increasingly vulnerable to surviving injuries or recovering from other conditions.

Children are the worst affected.

Our team in Gaza filmed with baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza. She is now three months old and dangerously thin.

Her skin stretches over her cheekbones and eye sockets on her gaunt, pale face. Her nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.

Lethal spiral

Her mother Sundush, who is only 19 herself, cannot get enough food to produce breastmilk. Baby formula is scarce.

Aya, like so many other young children, cannot get the vital nutrition she needs to grow and develop.

It’s a lethal spiral.

“My daughter was born at a normal weight, 3.5kg,” Sundush tells us.

“But as the war went on, her weight dropped significantly. I would breastfeed her, she’d get diarrhoea. I tried formula – same result. With the borders closed and no food coming in, I can’t eat enough to give her the nutrients she needs.”

“I brought her to the hospital for treatment, but the care she needs isn’t available.

“The doctor said her condition is very serious. I really don’t want to lose her, because I lost my husband and she’s all I have left of him. I don’t want to lose her.”

Some of the aid entering Gaza now is being looted. It is hard to know whether that is by Hamas or desperate civilians. Maybe a combination of the two.

The lack of aid creates an atmosphere of desperation, which eventually leads to a breakdown in security as everyone fights to secure food for themselves and their families.

Only by alleviating the desperation can the security situation improve, and the risk of famine abate.

World

Police launch ‘major operation’ after 12 people injured in knife attack at Hamburg train station

Published

3 hours ago

May 23, 2025

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Police launch 'major operation' after 12 people injured in knife attack at Hamburg train station

Twelve people are reported to have been injured after a knife attack at Hamburg’s central train station.

A “major operation” has been launched and a suspect was arrested, police said in a post on X.

The identity of the suspect has not been revealed.

Reports in Germany said the suspected attacker was a woman.

The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.

Bild newspaper said the motive for the attack was so far unknown.

Hamburg is Germany’s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.

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Israeli embassy shooting suspect ‘fired repeatedly after victims hit the ground’

Published

17 hours ago

May 23, 2025

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Israeli embassy shooting suspect 'fired repeatedly after victims hit the ground'

The man suspected of shooting dead two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC leaned over and fired at them repeatedly after they fell to the ground, the FBI has said.

Elias Rodriguez, 31, has been charged with murdering Sarah Milgrim and her boyfriend Yaron Lischinsky, after they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night.

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Footage has showed Rodriguez, from Chicago, chanting “free, free Palestine” as he was arrested.

It later emerged Mr Lischinsky had bought a ring and planned to propose to Ms Milgrim.

Authorities are investigating the killings as both a hate crime against the Jewish community and terrorism.

‘I did it for Gaza’

It comes as the FBI has said in a charging document on Thursday that surveillance footage shows how Ms Milgrim and Mr Lischinsky died.

Rodriguez is allegedly seen passing the couple after they left the museum before shooting them in the back.

The FBI says the footage then shows him leaning over the couple and firing at them several more times after they fell to the ground.

The video then shows Ms Milgrim attempting to crawl away before “(Rodriguez) followed behind her and fired again”, the charging document says.

The suspected gunman is then accused of reloading his weapon and firing at Ms Milgrim as she sat up.

According to the charging document, Rodriguez then jogged to the museum and once inside asked to speak to a police officer before stating that he “did it” and that he was unarmed.

He is then said to have told police: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.”

Suspect ‘expressed admiration’ for fatal protest

The court document also states that 21 expended 9mm bullet cases were found at the scene and the gun was slide-locked – meaning it was empty of ammunition.

An empty gun magazine was also recovered from the scene.

The FBI says it has obtained travel records which show Rodriguez flew from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to the Reagan National in Washington DC on Tuesday with the gun in his checked baggage.

Rodriguez had bought the weapon in the state of Illinois on 6 March 2020, according to the charging document.

The FBI has said that while Rodriguez was in custody he “expressed admiration” for a US Air Force member who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC on 25 February 2024.

Aaron Bushnell died in the apparent act of protest against the war in Gaza.

Rodriguez also told police he bought a ticket to the museum around three hours before the event that was attended by Ms Milgrim and Mr Lischinsky.

During a brief court appearance at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington DC today, Rodriguez was charged with two counts of first degree murder and with the murder of foreign officials.

He has also been charged with causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.

Rodriguez was told he could face life in prison or the death penalty if he is found guilty.

He remained calm throughout the hearing, paying attention to the proceedings throughout and confirmed that he is asking the court to appoint an attorney on his behalf.

He will next appear at a federal court in Washington DC on 18 June.

Murdered couple ‘were perfect for each other’

Meanwhile, Ms Milgrim’s father, Robert, says he feared his daughter might be in danger when he saw news alerts of a fatal shooting in Washington DC.

Ms Milgrim’s mother Nancy opened a phone locator app and saw Ms Milgrim was at the Capital Jewish Museum.

“Shortly after that, the Israeli ambassador called us on my wife’s phone,” Mr Milgrim told Sky News’ partner network NBC News, fighting back tears.

He added that it was the ambassador who told them Mr Lischinksy had bought a ring and was planning to propose to Ms Milgrim.

“They were perfect for each other, he said.

Mr Milgrim continued: “They just brought us joy, and her memory, which is a blessing, will continue to bring us joy – but it’s not the same as her not being here.”