London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 16, 2025

Protests call for end to NHS underfunding and understaffing

Protests call for end to NHS underfunding and understaffing

Anger grows over recommended 1% pay rise, as nurses and doctors consider taking industrial action

Dozens of protests have called for an end to underfunding and understaffing in the NHS across England, Scotland and Wales to mark the health service’s 73rd anniversary.

Campaigners from Keep Our NHS Public said they wanted an end to health service privatisation, better pay and to highlight threats to patient safety due to working conditions.

Outside University College Hospital in London on Saturday, NHS health workers and activists chanted: “Boris Johnson hear us shout, pay us properly or get out”. They also begged for the NHS to be kept alive, as it continues to face structural reforms that many say damage efficiency and see some services in effect privatised.

NHS protest for NHS pay justice, on its 73rd birthday on Saturday.


Nearby, a critical care nurse said NHS staff had been so “battered” by the pandemic that “a lot of us are still carrying scars … We’ve seen things we shouldn’t see and its broken a lot of our nurses”, Dave Carr, also a Unite representative, told Sky News.

“The NHS is in an existential crisis. We love the fact we are trusted by the British public to look after their sick [relatives]. So I want them to trust us now when we say if we don’t get a pay rise we are going to continue to haemorrhage nursing staff. Patient safety is already compromised; our NHS is crumbling and around the edges the vultures are privatising lumps of it. It’s on a knife-edge.”

There was anger in March when the former health secretary Matt Hancock recommended a 1% increase for nurses and doctors in consideration of what he said was “what’s affordable as a nation”.


On Friday, the British Medical Association said it planned to ask members about taking industrial action and halting paid and unpaid overtime if the government’s pay offer was not closer to 4%, after years of real terms cuts. The Royal College of Nursing also said it was considering balloting for action over the “slap in the face” pay offer.

Before the protests, co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public Dr Tony O’Sullivan, said the founding principles of the NHS, to institute universal free healthcare, were undermined by government underfunding of the NHS, while “giving priority” to investment with private health companies.

“The weakened NHS has been stretched to breaking point by Covid and the population has suffered,” he said. “Staff are underpaid, overworked and their health put in danger. The new health bill threatens further large scale private contracting.”

Holly Turner, an NHS nurse and founding member of campaign group NHS Workers Say No, said: “I have been dealt over a decade of real terms cuts to my pay despite my workload only continuing to increase. Staff have been victims of avoidable deaths and illness while crony contracts and profit has been placed above workers’ safety. We are struggling to keep our patients safe due to chronic understaffing and unmanageable waiting lists.”


John McDonnell, former Labour shadow chancellor, told a rally outside Downing Street: “We’ve all known people who have been lost in the NHS as a result of this, in my local hospital we lost one of the matrons in the early stages of the pandemic. We cannot let their lives be in vain; they gave their lives to save their patients … We’ve got to ensure in honour of them we save the NHS.”

Almost 800,000 people have signed a petition set up by a nurse from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, which says the weekly national rounds of applause, broadcast with images of ministers clapping, is “a nice gesture” but that what they most want is for NHS workers to be given a 15% pay rise.

The protests come as the NHS turns 73. More than 70 landmarks across England will be lit up in blue on Saturday to thank staff for their work during the pandemic and commemorate the hundreds of NHS workers who died in relation to Covid.

The NHS chief people officer, Prerana Issar, said: “Each of the colleagues who sadly died while caring for and protecting patients represents an irreplaceable gap in a family and a workplace.

“It is no exaggeration to say that health service staff have helped to keep the country going during the pandemic, and while NHS staff have rightly been celebrated for their contribution, we know that the role played by other key workers – people keeping supermarkets open, refuse collectors, childcarers and other public services – as well as the resilience of the general public, has helped ensure we can start to move forward.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
×