The NHS has faced over 60 years of continual cutbacks and reorganization. This public service has been kept in a constant state of upheaval by successive governments and their attempts to halt the out of control spending that has become synonymous with public healthcare. With the new major reforms recently announced by the current Coalition government is seems that things haven’t changed and NHS staff face another round of criticism, cutbacks, staff losses and service reduction. It is no wonder that moral in this public sector has reached an all time low.

All patients should be concerned by the demoralisation that now seems to be at the heart of the NHS. Thousands of people move into a healthcare career because they want to help people and work in a nurturing environment. However budget cuts and staff shortages in the NHS have created an atmosphere of restriction in public sector healthcare. This means that hardworking, loyal healthcare professionals are rewarded for their efforts by having their budgets cut and facing heavy criticism for their spending.

NHS Pay Bargaining Crisis

This demoralisation is set to worsen with new government plans to end national pay bargaining. Pay bargaining has always been a key issue for public sector staff as their unions work hard to get them fair pay deals to meet rising inflation and living costs. However with the end of pay bargaining governments will be able to dictate pay to public sector workers without the unions having any power to negotiate for better offers.

If you are one of the thousands of people who feel that public sector health workers get paid too much already then you need to stop and think about one thing. Good pay creates a competitive jobs market and allows the NHS to contend with private sector healthcare. Without good NHS pay conditions then people who have spent a lot of time and money training for their careers in healthcare will be more likely to opt for private healthcare positions. This will leave the NHS with a serious skills gap and staff shortages which could have a devastating effect on healthcare across the nation.

Private Healthcare

Private healthcare hospitals and clinics are not reliant on the government to decide their pay for them and so they can offer the most competitive salaries. At the moment the NHS can offer a number of pay and working benefits that allows then to compete with private sector healthcare on the jobs market. However without pay bargaining this could end. The NHS could struggle to keep existing staff and recruit new numbers in the future if they cannot afford to offer decent wage packages and benefits. Combine this with the demoralisation caused by poor pay and you could have a recipe for disaster.

The government believes this break away from pay bargaining deals will lead to more competition in the public healthcare sector. However unions feel strongly that this move is designed to undermine their power when it comes to defending and securing good working conditions for NHS staff.

Private healthcare is looking increasing attractive in these times of massive NHS upheaval, both for healthcare professionals and for patients.


Private medical insurance providers could see a sharp rise in the demand for healthcare over the next few years in response to growing NHS unrest.