Streeting Tells Health Conference: ‘The Challenge Is Enormous’

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting spoke at UNISON’s annual health conference yesterday (9th April) at the ACC Liverpool.

During his keynote speech Mr Streeting discussed the government’s plans for a National Care Service and spoke about improving status and national respect for care work.

He started by noting that he was the first health and social care secretary to address a UNISON conference in 15 years, since Andy Burnham, adding: “I’m particularly proud to do so as a UNISON member.”

Speaking about UNISON’s support for the Labour Party during the last general election, he said that the victory has “put into the Department of Health and Social Care three UNISON MPs who are working day and night to turn around our NHS and transform social care – Stephen Kinnock, Karin Smyth and me.

“Now we’re delivering the change people voted for. It’s not all plain sailing and I expect you’ll want to question, even challenge, some of the government’s decisions.

“For all the challenges we’re confronting – and there are plenty – nothing I’ve experienced in the past nine months since the general election have shaken my confidence and conviction that this will be a government that not only gets our NHS back on its feet, but makes sure it’s fit for the future.”

Mr Streeting then moved on to social care. He noted that the government’s move to legislate to introduce fair pay agreements for care workers as part of “the largest expansion of workers’ rights in history, with Labour’s Employment Rights Bill.” It represented the “our first step on the road to building a national care service,” he said.

“And I can announce today that we will go further for our care professionals,” he continued, “We are introducing the first universal career structure for adult social care, setting out four new job roles, to give care workers the opportunity to progress in their career, with millions of pounds of new investment in skills and training.”

Moving onto recruitment and retention in the NHS, Mr Streeting continued:
“British taxpayers are investing billions in doctors, nurses, paramedics, and healthcare assistants, only for them to end up treating patients in Canada or Australia.

“We have got to retain the talent we’ve got in the health service and treat our staff with the respect they deserve. That means more training and opportunities for nurses who want to progress in their career, and making flexible working easier.

“It also means paying you for the job you actually do. So we’re bringing in a new digital system to make sure the [NHS] job evaluation scheme is applied fairly across the board, honouring the demand that has echoed down the labour movement for generations: a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.

Speaking on the longer term plan for the NHS, the secretary of state said:
“The scale of the challenge in the NHS is huge.

“Our job is twofold – first, to get the service back on its feet and treating patients on time again, and second, to reform the service for the long-term, so it is fit for the future.

“And I say it’s ‘our job’ deliberately. This cannot be done by one man sat behind a desk in Whitehall. We will only succeed if this is a team effort, from the Prime Minister to the 1.5 million people who work in the health service.”

Referencing the government’s plan, which is due to be published later in spring, he highlighted it would:

• Shift the focus of healthcare out of hospital and into the community, with more investment in primary and community care
• Bring the analogue health service into the digital age, arming staff with modern equipment and cutting-edge technology
• Turn a “sickness service” into a preventative health service, to help people live well for longer and tackle the biggest killers.

He told delegates: “I know how hard it must be to battle against a broken system, to give patients the best care you can, only to go home at the end of the day knowing your best wasn’t enough. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“My message to everyone working in the NHS is this: stay and help us rescue it. Change takes time, but it has already begun.”