Highland NHS and council bosses attack workers amidst the pandemic

Sean Robertson, Highland branch Socialist Party Scotland

In yet another display of complete ineptitude by NHS Highland management, NHS staff have been castigated for taking part in morale boosting team bonding photos and videos.

The photo and videos, which thank the public for their support, were produced as part of charity fundraising campaigns, including one in support of the recent Big Night In televised event which generated £67 million for charity.

In a statement that would make Katie Hopkins blush for its insensitivity, senior management criticised staff for a “lack of social distancing and professionalism during the Covid-19 pandemic”.

An unnamed NHS staff member quoted in local media said: “We are being treated like children. The criticism from bosses in NHS Highland is never finished with. We are exhausted and working all the hours we physically can.

“We work next to each other day-in and day-out. Come on, get a grip. If we want to say thank you for all the support we are getting from the public, we will. It is much more supportive than this email.”

This latest farce comes hot on the heels of allegations that NHS Highland threatened admin staff with the sack if they did not show up for work during the pandemic, despite being able to work from home. Government guidelines state that no-one should go to work unless absolutely necessary.

Despite being dogged by bullying allegations for several years, the health board, in what was described as a thinly veiled threat by trade unions, told staff they should feel fortunate that they have jobs when others are facing unemployment. They then added that staff should come into the office regardless of whether they think it is safe.

Managers have been instructed to discipline staff for breach of contract if they refuse to turn up for work during the corona crisis, but staff say that many of the administrative jobs based in Assynt House, Larch House and Raigmore Hospital in Inverness can be done remotely.

Gavin Smith, the GMB union NHS Highland lead, said: “This is appalling. It’s a thinly-veiled threat to staff: ‘do what we say without questioning or face disciplinary action’. Staff deserve so much better than this. They are giving their best in a very difficult situation.

“Staff are genuinely worried for themselves and it’s not acceptable to turn the screw in this way. Has NHS Highland learned nothing from the Sturrock report into bullying?

“Why is the director of HR’s advice different from the advice on NHS Inform and from the Scottish Government? This advises that staff should work from home wherever possible. And if it’s not possible, then they should explain why.

“Staff need answers to questions. They need to be treated with respect. They don’t need ill-advised threats from the director of HR.”

Highland council also got in on the act by forcing cleaners to work despite social distancing rules and the fact that the workplaces they clean are closed.

As we reported earlier hundreds of leisure staff at Highland and Moray Councils are facing job insecurity, lay offs, redeployment or redundancies as a result of the effects of Coranavirus. 

more council cuts?

But the effects of the virus are going from bad to worse for Highland Council as the crisis develops. The council is reporting that there is a more than £80 million pound budget gap this financial year, including a £5 million fall in council tax income.

This is likely to trigger further swingeing austerity cuts in the council area, in addition to the hundreds of millions stolen by Westminster and Holyrood from the local authority over the past decade. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Socialist planning, instead of capitalist chaos, could successfully chart a path to recovery for workers in the Highlands.

The health unions should take control of determining what health workers need to work safely. They should take over the supply and distribution of PPE too. Workers in the frontline are best placed to know what is required, where and when.

The government should immediately take over companies capable of producing PPE and re-purpose production to produce the equipment we need.

Councils should refuse to implement any more austerity cuts but instead should implement needs budgets and campaign, alongside unions and working class community campaigners, to win back the millions stolen from public services.

A genuine exit strategy – not just from the pandemic, but from the austerity, poverty and exploitation that the capitalist profit system generates – will only be possible in a fundamentally different kind of society.

This would be based on public ownership of industry, services and finance, in which the planning that governments have been randomly groping towards in this crisis – to build the hospitals, secure essential equipment such as ventilators and masks, distribute food, etc – could be extended to the whole of the economy.

Working-class people could then democratically decide and prioritise where the enormous wealth that already exists, and will be created in the future, should be spent.

Socialist Party Scotland is fighting hard to defend workers’ health, safety and livelihoods in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

We are helping to build trade unions and a working-class party – as defence organisations during the pandemic – but also as organisations that can proactively fight for the socialist society we need to combat disease, poverty, exploitation and environmental destruction.