Unite has joined the nursing union RCN to pass a vote of no confidence in the secretary of state for health, Andrew Lansley, and crucially, too, in the Health and Social Care bill.
Health specialists including GPs, mental health nurses, pharmacists and non-clinical staff are all represented by Unite. At their national health committee they voted overwhelmingly to back a motion of no confidence in the health secretary.
Their vote follows the massive no confidence vote at the Royal College of Nursing’s conference passed earlier where 98 per cent of nurses said they could not support the health secretary’s handling of the bill.
But Unite is warning that whoever is at the helm of national health, if they do not drop this bill, they too will suffer the same fate of no confidence in them from health specialists.
Unite national officer for health, Rachael Maskell, said: “Health professionals do not have confidence that Andrew Lansley understands that he is on the verge of destroying our health service. And they do not have confidence that David Cameron or Nick Clegg understand this either. During the select committee they had 100 opportunities to amend this bill and every single one of them they rejected.
“Now they are in political trouble they are trying to sell the idea that they are ‘listening’. Well, health professionals are not buying that.
“We are proud to lend our weight to the RCN’s vote. It is the duty to now stand up and be counted in defence of our health service because this government is ruining it.”
