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CNN —A British nurse has been found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others at the hospital where she worked, making her the country’s worst baby serial killer in recent times. But concerns raised by consultants over the increased mortality rate of patients under Letby’s care were initially dismissed by the hospital’s management, the UK’s PA Media news agency reported. In September 2016, Letby filed a grievance against her employers after she was relocated from the hospital’s neonatal ward. “Justice has been served and the nurse who should have been caring for our babies has been found guilty of harming them. “We are heartbroken, devastated, angry and feel numb.”Letby will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on August 21.

Persons: CNN —, Lucy Letby, Countess, Chester, duping, Letby, Elizabeth Cook, ‘, ”, “, ” Pascale Jones, ” ‘, ’ Organizations: CNN, Manchester Crown Court, Police, Prosecution Service, Consultants, UK’s, Media, Royal College of Nursing, CPS, ”, “ Locations: Manchester, England

GMB's backing means the offer has been accepted by four unions representing National Health Service (NHS) workers whose members include midwives, physiotherapists and ambulance workers. The NHS Staff Council, which includes representatives from NHS employers and trade unions, is due to meet on May 2 to vote on whether to accept the offer. The GMB's leadership said it would now vote in favour of the pay offer, after 56% of its members who voted in a ballot accepted the deal. "This new pay offer would not have happened without the strike action taken by ambulance and other GMB health workers," said Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary. "Our members recognise that progress has been made - from the government originally offering nothing, health workers will be thousands of pounds better off."

☆ UK set to curb nurses' strike after union does not defend legal action
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Toby MelvilleLONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - The British government on Thursday looked set to limit the length of an upcoming strike by nurses, after their trade union did not send lawyers to defend legal action it has brought over the dispute. However, Britain's health department says that industrial action on May 2 would be unlawful because a vote to strike is only valid for six months after a ballot of trade union members. Lawyers representing health minister Steve Barclay told London's High Court on Thursday that, as the RCN ballot closed on Nov. 2 last year, a strike on May 2 would be "clearly unlawful action". Lawyer Andrew Burns, representing the government, said the union had performed "a significant U-turn" and was no longer contesting the bid to have the final day of its strike action declared unlawful. "We have ended up in a very regrettable situation where a major – and, one would hope, responsible – trade union has been publicly saying that its members can take lawful strike action on May 2," Burns said.

☆ UK health minister says he will seek court order to block nurses' strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 21 (Reuters) - British health minister Steve Barclay said on Friday that he intends to pursue legal action against the Royal College of Nursing's upcoming strike action. "Following a request from NHS Employers I have regretfully provided notice of my intent to pursue legal action to ask the courts to declare the Royal College of Nursing's upcoming strike action planned for 30 April to 2 May to be unlawful," he said. "Bullying nurses and dragging us through the highest courts would not be a good look for government," the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said in a response to his statement. Last week, nurses in England rejected an offer of a 5% pay rise and set out plans for further strikes. Reporting by Shivani Tanna in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Cleveland Clinic to open its third London facility as Brits flock to private health care
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —US group Cleveland Clinic will open its third London facility this autumn as demand for private health care booms in the United Kingdom — sparked in large part by long wait times to access treatment on the National Health Service (NHS). “We are excited to be expanding our London footprint with a third location, in the heart of the City of London,” said Tommaso Falcone, interim CEO of Cleveland Clinic London. Cleveland Clinic is one of several major private health care providers expanding rapidly in the United Kingdom to keep up with demand from a much broader swathe of the population than ever before. Also building new UK facilities this year are HCA Healthcare — another American group — and private hospital group Spire Healthcare. NHS wait timesThe demand is being fueled by long wait times to access care on the NHS.

☆ UK strikes hit a 30-year high as inflation erodes pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Many public sector workers have been offered raises of 4% or 5% for the current financial year, far lower than the 10.5% annual inflation rate in December. Real pay fallsThe UK government has so far refused to grant public sector workers higher pay awards, arguing that doing so risks making the inflation problem worse. For public sector workers, the decline in real pay will have been worse as, without adjusting for inflation, their wages grew a lot less compared with private sector earnings. The ONS said private sector pay growth was at its strongest outside the height of the coronavirus pandemic. “However, median anticipated public sector pay rise expectations of 2% lag those in the private sector at 5%, with the gap providing the context for ongoing discontent and strikes among key public sector workers,” the CIPD said.

☆ Britain faces largest ever healthcare strikes as pay disputes drag on
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Sachin Ravikumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Unfortunately, we've been seeing a situation with the ambulance unions where they refuse to provide that information," he said. Ambulance workers have denied Shapps' allegation. Sharon Graham, leader of the Unite union, told the BBC on Sunday she wanted Sunak to come to the negotiating table, accusing the government of lying about ambulance workers. Not all ambulance workers will strike at once and emergency calls will be attended to. In Wales, nurses and some ambulance workers have called off strikes planned for Monday as they review pay offers from the Welsh government.

☆ Factbox: Britain on strike: Which workers are walking out on Feb. 1 and Feb. 6?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Healthcare workers are also taking coordinated action on Feb. 6 for the first time, in what is set to be the biggest day of action in Britain's state-funded National Health Service. TEACHERSTeachers from the National Education Union in England and Wales will take the first of several days of strike action, impacting 23,400 schools. GOVERNMENT STAFFMore than 100,000 workers from the PCS union in government departments and public bodies will take part in a one-day strike. The GMB said more than 10,000 ambulance workers in England and Wales, including paramedics, emergency care assistants and call handlers, will strike on Feb. 6, Feb. 20, March 6 and March 20. Unite said ambulance workers in England would walk out on Feb. 6, Feb. 17, Feb. 20, Feb. 22, Mar.

☆ Britain faces new ambulance strike dates in Feb, March
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - British labour union Unite said ambulance workers would strike on a series of new dates in February and March, in the latest sign of the deepening dispute between the government and healthcare workers over pay. Unite said ambulance workers in England would walk-out on Feb. 6, Feb. 17, Feb. 20 and Feb. 22 and Mar. 20, with members in different regions holding walk-outs on different days. The new dates will add to fears for the safe running of Britain's healthcare service on Feb. 6, when other health-related unions including the Royal College of Nursing are also staging industrial action. Members from a different union, the GMB, which represents ambulance and other healthcare workers including emergency care assistants, are already planning strikes on Feb. 6, Feb. 20, March 6 and March 20.

Less than three years later on Wednesday, tens of thousands of nurses in England are estimated to have walked off work as part of an unprecedented strike shaking the country’s much-loved but troubled National Health Service. They are also striking to highlight the long-term deterioration of the service amid a chronic shortage of health care staff and ballooning living costs. Meanwhile, the health service, normally a huge source of pride for Britons, has spiraled into crisis due to long- and short-term factors including the fallout of the pandemic. As of September, there were a record 132,000 unfilled health service jobs — almost 10% of the total workforce of more than 1.3 million — according to figures released by NHS England. She described one shift in which three nurses and two student nurses looked after 15 patients.

[1/5] NHS nurses hold banners during a strike, amid a dispute with the government over pay, in London, Britain January 18, 2023. "This job is slowly killing nurses," said David Hendy, a 34-year old nurse joining around 100 others on the picket line outside University College London Hospital. The government has so far resisted pressure to meet nurses' demands for a discussion about pay, insisting it will not revisit the 4%-5% it awarded in 2022/23 on the recommendation of a pay review body, and will only discuss the pay review process for 2023/24. Health minister Steve Barclay told reporters during a visit to a hospital on Wednesday he was disappointed by the strikes and that meeting nurses' pay demands would be unaffordable. Definitely bills are going up and our pay is not reflecting that," said Jenny Gyertson, 42, who has worked as a nurse for two decades.

☆ Nurses in England plan third wave of strikes next month over pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Sachin Ravikumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Rather than negotiate, Rishi Sunak has chosen strike action again," RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said. The fresh strikes will follow walkouts by nurses in mid-December — the RCN's first ever national strike — as well as strikes scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday this week. Ambulance workers have also launched their own industrial action over pay. Talks by government ministers with union leaders have so far failed to end strike action. The health department has previously said nurses' initial demands amounted to a 19% pay rise - unaffordable in the current economic climate.

☆ Strikes in Britain set to intensify as teacher ballot results due
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( William James | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Rail workers that are members of the ASLEF union stand at a picket line outside Euston station while on strike, in London, Britain, January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File PhotoLONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Strikes disrupting swathes of the British economy look likely to intensify this week, with teachers ready to announce industrial action, according to the Sunday Times, and nurses warning their strikes could double in size next month. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government, which sets pay levels in the publicly-funded health and education services, is already dealing with strikes in rail and other industries as wages increases fall behind rapidly rising prices. Last week, a strike ballot by a different teachers' union fell short of the required turnout threshold. Transport minister Mark Harper told Sky News on Sunday that any decision to strike by teachers would be regrettable.

☆ UK officials meet with unions in bid to end strikes by nurses and ambulance drivers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Senior UK government officials are meeting with labor unions on Monday in a last-ditch effort to avert another wave of strikes affecting vital public services such as health care and transport. On Monday, the education minister will meet with teaching unions, the transport minister will meet with rail unions and the health minister will meet with unions representing nurses and ambulance drivers. Workers are demanding higher pay and better working conditions in the face of record inflation and a sharp fall in living standards. Ambulance workers will strike on January 19 in Wales and on January 23 in England. Teacher unions are balloting members over a possible strike, while the British Medical Association started balloting junior doctors on Monday.

☆ UK strike law will make it harder for key workers to strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —The UK government is planning to introduce a new law forcing workers in key public sectors such as ambulance services to maintain a basic level of service during strike action or risk dismissal. Workers who strike after they have been told to report to work by their employer and union could face dismissal. Critical care was exempt from the nurses’ strike, and unions pledged to cover life-threatening emergencies during recent walkouts by ambulance workers. The government said that it will impose minimum safety levels in these areas only if “voluntary agreements” cannot be reached. “Trade unions will fight this every step of the way,” the Trades Union Congress, which represents 48 UK unions, said on Twitter.

☆ British nurses walk out again, threaten further strikes in pay dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The industrial action by up to 100,000 nurses is unprecedented in the British nursing union's 106-year history, but it says it has no choice as workers struggle to make ends meet with inflation running at more than 10%. The government has offered nurses around 4% and declined to discuss pay further, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying the nurses' demand for a pay rise of 5% plus inflation would equate to a 19% hike and is unaffordable. I will negotiate with him at any point to stop nursing staff and patients going into the new year facing such uncertainty," the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union Pat Cullen said. The RCN said it was giving the government 48 hours from the end of Tuesday's walk out to respond, before it announces further strike dates. What we can't do is go back into reopening the pay award," junior health minister Will Quince told Sky News.

☆ Britain is 'resolute' on nurses' pay, senior minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The British government is "resolute" it will not budge on nurses' pay, senior minister Oliver Dowden said on Sunday, ahead of a planned second nationwide walkout by the profession over an average pay offer of 4% while inflation runs at more than 10%. Its leader Pat Cullen said on Friday that unless ministers "start playing ball by taking part in meaningful negotiations" over pay, nurses would continue to take action. "Governments have had every chance to act but they have chosen to turn their backs on us," she said. Dowden said nurses' pay was recommended by an independent pay review body, which had determined that nurses would receive a minimum rise of 1,400 pounds, equating to about 4% on average. Britain is facing a wave of industrial action this winter, including rail and postal services as well as healthcare.

☆ 'What a tragic day': British nurses strike in bitter pay dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Farouq Suleiman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] NHS nurses take part in a strike, during a dispute with the government over pay, outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, Britain December 15, 2022. An estimated 100,000 nurses will strike at 76 hospitals and health centres, cancelling an estimated 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries in Britain's state-funded NHS. "What a tragic day. This is a tragic day for nursing, it is a tragic day for patients, patients in hospitals like this, and it is a tragic day for people of this society and for our NHS," Pat Cullen, the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, said to the BBC on a picket line on Thursday. Polling ahead of the nursing strike showed that a majority of Britons support the action, but once the walk-outs are underway politicians will be closely monitoring public opinion.

☆ British nurses launch historic strike, as pay and staffing crises threaten the NHS
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“The reality is, every day, nurses across the UK are walking into understaffed hospitals,” Mackay said. “I feel really sorry for the young girls who are now trying to get into the profession, they have to pay for their training. Nurses’ pay dropped 1.2% every year between 2010 and 2017 once inflation was taken into account, according to the Health Foundation, a UK charity that campaigns for better health and health care. Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesEarlier this year, the RCN rejected an offer by the government to increase nurses’ pay by a minimum of £1,400 ($1,707) a year, which amounted to an average rise of 4.3%, well below the rate of inflation. Members of Britain’s armed forces were being trained to drive ambulances and firefight in the event of strike action, ministers said earlier this month.

☆ Premarket stocks: How the Fed could do a smaller rate hike and still upset markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

That will mark its seventh and final painful hike of the year, albeit a smaller one than the last four historically high three-quarter point increases. Investors will be paying close attention to these forecasts for clues about the path of rate hikes in the new year and beyond. Now the opposite is true, the dots have become a signal that interest rates will remain elevated into the future — spooking investors and Fed watchers alike. Back in December 2021, the Fed was only expecting rates to finish this year at about 0.9%. What else: Wednesday will also bring the Fed’s latest forecasts for the unemployment rate and gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

☆ UK strikes set to escalate as nurses prepare for ‘unprecedented’ walkout
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“It is pretty unprecedented,” Billy Palmer, senior fellow at Nuffield Trust, a health research firm, told CNN. While small pockets of nursing staff have walked out before, the country’s National Health Service has seen “nothing of this scale until now,” he added. ‘Enough is enough’Earlier this year, the RCN rejected an offer by the government to increase nurses’ pay by a minimum of £1,400 ($1,707) a year. Each additional 1% pay rise for nursing staff would cost the government around £700 million ($854 million), he added. Internationally, it is hard to compare UK nurses’ pay, given health care systems differ significantly between countries, but it falls somewhere in the middle of the range of comparable economies, Palmer said.

☆ Britain braces for winter of strike action as nurses walk out
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Sarah Young | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Unions are seeking double-digit pay rises to keep pace with inflation that hit 11.1% in October, the highest in 41 years. Union estimates forecast more than 1 million working days will be lost in December, making it the worst month for disruption since July 1989. Walk-outs in rail by RMT members, which started in June, are the union's biggest action for over 30 years, while for nurses, it is the first ever national strike action in the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) 106-year-old history. MORE PROMINENT UNIONSThe walk-outs end decades of relatively stable industrial relations in Britain, compared to European neighbours such as France and Spain. "I think the world that we're in is one where we get more prominent union activity," Pickering said.

☆ UK health unions offer to pause NHS strikes if government joins pay talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 10 (Reuters) - British health unions have offered to suspend a wave of planned strikes in health services over Christmas and the New Year if the government agrees to open serious discussions over pay. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Unison said they would consider calling off the strikes if Britain's health and social care minister Steve Barclay agrees to host serious negotiations. "I will press pause on it when the health secretary says he will negotiate seriously on our dispute this year," RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said in a statement. "Rather than scare the public about the consequences of strikes, the health secretary should table genuine plans for improving wages," said Unison general secretary Christina McAnea in a statement. "Ministers have had constructive talks with unions, including the RCN and Unison," a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in a statement.

☆ UK strikes to hit ambulance services, hospitals and trains in the run up to Christmas
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

More than 10,000 ambulance workers represented by the GMB Union will strike again on December 28. Ambulance workers, like others in the UK National Health Service (NHS), “are on their knees,” according to GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison. According to The Times, one million UK workers are set to strike in December and January. The union said that critical care will be exempt from strike action but non-critical services will have lower staffing levels. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 115,000 postal workers, has notified Royal Mail of additional walkouts on December 9, 11, 14 and 15.

☆ UK public sector pay won't keep up with inflation: transport minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dylan MartinezLONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - British public-sector pay will not be able to keep up with soaring inflation, transport minister Mark Harper said on Sunday, as the country faces a wave of industrial disputes. British consumer price inflation hit a 41-year high of 11.1% in October, but the latest official wage data, for July-September, showed public sector pay rose by an annual 2.4%, while average private sector wages increased by 6.8%. "We want to try and give all the workers in the public sector who work very hard decent pay rises. We haven't seen those in the private sector either," Harper told Sky News. Harper said he wanted changes to employment practices in the rail sector - where Sunday working is optional - before agreeing more public funding.

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