A hot winter? – A series of local strikes in the NHS
In December 2024 there were a few local disputes going on within the NHS
Clinical research – Report from a friend
As health workers, we have to start understanding how our industry works in order to be able to take it over and run it in the interest of everyone
Film – General strike of health workers in Italy, November 2024
On the 20th of November 2024, 85% of public hospital workers went on strike
National meeting – Health workers in struggle
Invitation to a discussion and organising weekend
Blast from the Past – ‘Overseas Nurses’ in the 1970s
We re-publish below an article that was featured in Race Today, a political magazine written by black radicals and revolutionaries between 1973 and 1988
Report from the Vital Signs meeting, 12th of November 2024
A group of colleagues who work at the two main hospitals in Bristol met at our regular meeting
The mysterious world of NHS bands – or how we re-grade health care assistants to a Band 8
NHS Bands – not only paying us peanuts, but also different amounts of peanuts
Current and past hospital movements in Germany – Conversation with a friend and fellow worker
We visited a comrade who has been working and organising as a nurse since the late 1980s
Datix? Greatix? Forget–about-ix?
We need a culture of speaking up, but for that we need a collective self-confidence
Blast from the past – Nurses in 1985
We document this ancient article on the situation of nurses in the mid-1980s by Carl Pinel
Industry and pharmaceutics, by Marco Boschetti
We translated the introduction to an interesting book on the pharmaceutical industry
Vital Signs no.2
If you are interested in helping with the distribution of the hardcopy, give us a shout: vitalsignsmag@proton
What do we mean by ‘a new society’?
The subtitle of this magazine is ‘The struggle for a new society’
Report from the Vital Signs meeting, 27th of September 2024
A handful of us who work at Southmead hospital and the BRI met up to talk about things at work and beyond
Struggles of an independent workers’ group at a private hospital in Germany
It is interesting to read how the group started as part of the mainstream trade union and then had to organise itself independently
Nous serons plus patients – A rebellious health workers book from France
We translated the intro to a new book published by rebellious health workers in France
Report from the Vital Signs meeting, 30th of August 2024
A handful of us from Southmead hospital and the BRI met and primarily talked about the various cuts due to the ‘financial crisis’ of the trust
Conversation with a junior doctor about the recent strikes
The recent junior doctor strike was significant, not just for doctors, but for all NHS workers
Account of a working class patient who had cancer surgery and treatment in Bristol
We need to foster new relationships of solidarity between health workers and patients that doesn’t reduce patients to objects or clients
Book review: Critical – Why the NHS is being betrayed and how we can fight for it
‘Critical’ provides us with good material for discussion, which we can use to engage in a series of interviews with doctors and other health workers
On the current pay offer for NHS workers – The Labour government is a more skilled opponent
Starmer himself knows how to use state power in more subtle ways than a lofty money-bag like Sunak
CrowdStrike or Workers’ Strike? – Conversation with a NHS IT worker
The following conversation with a NHS IT worker took place before the CrowdStrike cock-up…
Nothing to lose in Toulouse – Reports from struggling health workers in France
We document two recent struggles of health workers in Toulouse, France
Speech by an apprentice health worker at the ‘Walk of Care’ in Berlin
We document a speech by an apprentice care worker held at a recent ‘Walk of Care’ in Berlin
Calling (off) all agency and bank workers – What’s happening?
On the current cuts of bank and agency shifts in the NHS and the local hospitals in Bristol
Issue no.1 – HCA philosophy / For a new relation with patients
This series will present reflections on the relationship between health workers and patients
Issue no. 1 – Minimum wages for maximum stress
Since the pay dispute in 2022/2023, there have been a number of local strikes across the country within the NHS
Issue no.1 – The Letting Game – Letting you down
Imagine 18,000 hospital workers blocking the M32 or the port in Avonmouth depot demanding a rent cap for Bristol
Issue no.1 – Tears, sweat and placements
In the coming issues of Vital Signs we will interview nursing and medical students about their experiences
Issue no.1 – Against the global trauma ward! Against the bosses’ wars!
Why we have to oppose all states in their military race for markets and create unity amongst our fellow workers worldwide
Issue no.1 – Re-banding or banding together?
If we don’t stick together and stand up for ourselves against stress and low wages, the bitching will start sooner or later
Issue no. 1 – Bye, bye Dubai – Hello Bedminster!
Health workers migrate and bring with them experiences from around the globe
Issue no.1 – For workers’ and patients’ control of the health industry
There are good reasons why we need more workers’ and patients’ control over the health system
Issue no.1 – Short staffed and short changed?
In this series we‘ll look at how our work and the conditions of work change
Issue no.1 – Editorial
This magazine represents an effort to create a forum where together with co-workers we can reflect on our experiences, our struggles and our potential to create solidarity
Thoughts after the first round of NHS strikes
The fact that, after three decades, nurses have gone on strike again in the UK is positive, at the same time we need to have a careful look at the weak points of the strike in order to learn for the future
Nicoletta Stame and Francesco Pisarri: Proletarians and health (1977) – Chapter One
A book about the autonomous workers’ committee at the university clinic in Rome in the 1970s, bringing together medical students and porters, workers and patients
Nicoletta Stame and Francesco Pisarri: Proletarians and Health (1977) – Intro
This book documents an inquiry into a recent struggle against class medicine and for the proletarian management of a hospital in which the workers on the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome have been involved in since 1971
Struggles in the 1970s at the polyclinic in Rome – Part 1
The collective’s outstanding character was based on the fact that it included medical students, nurses, porters and doctors, and aimed at the socialisation of the divided knowledge within a project of workers’ control of the clinic
NHS pay dispute from below – Online newsletter no.4 / 2021
Welcome to the fourth newsletter for a worker-led pay dispute from below…
NHS pay dispute from below – Online newsletter no.3 / 2021
Welcome to the third newsletter for a workers-led NHS pay dispute
NHS pay dispute from below – Online newsletter no.2 / 2021
Welcome to the second newsletter for a workers-led NHS pay dispute
NHS pay dispute from below – Online newsletter no.1 / 2021
Analysis and intervention in the debate during the pay dispute in 2021/22
Leaflet from France/Belgium
We document a leaflet written by friends in France and Czech Republic
Fellow health workers – We have to take this struggle into our own hands
Leaflet written for the NHS pay campaign of action in July 2021
Militant inquiry into the ‘white factory’ (hospital) – Part one – Wildcat April 1988
We translated this article as a general framework for discussion
French lessons – What we can learn from the 1988 hospital workers’ strike coordinations in France
We translated the following two texts from 1988, because we think that there are still things we can learn from the strike movement back then
Hospital workers’ assemblies in Germany – Organising in the “White Factory”
We translated this text from the late 1980s because it can still serve as a reference-point when searching for new ways that we can organise ouselves as health workers from the bottom up, rather than waiting for orders from the top
Review of ‘Memoirs of a callous picket’, by Jonathan Neale
It is a short and readable book, full of useful and interesting information about the wider social and political context in which NHS nurses went on strike in 1982
Debate on the current character of hospitals and their restructuring
Friends from France have written a detailed paper on the question – read it here
‘Hospital and Emancipation’, By Nadja Rakowitz
Left politics, which claims to represent a democratic perspective that goes beyond capitalism, cannot be satisfied with the goal of merely redistributing the social wealth generated under capitalist conditions
Missed chances – Report from the annual meeting of the Unison Health Service Group
During the last week of April I participated as a delegate of my Unison branch of a local NHS Trust in this annual meeting that brings together all Unison reps in the private and public health sector
Warning signals – The UNISON Scotland sell-out of the NHS workers’ pay campaign
UNISON Scotland recommended their members in the NHS to accept a 4% pay offer of the Scottish government
Example of action of ITU nurses resulting in better pay for bank staff
The action of the ICU nurses show that management reacts to collective pressure from below, even if only a small group of workers are involved
Whose strike is it? – Interview with mental health nurse and RCN member
Interview with a registered mental health nurse in the UK who works in South East England in an NHS community mental health and addictions service
Learning from health workers in Argentina – On the current rebellion in Neuquén
What started as a health workers’ dispute has turned into a regional uprising
Paperwork nightmare – A creative way to strike by emergency services in Germany
A form of labour dispute – while the collective bargaining dispute was on paramedics refused to do the bureaucratic work that is necessary for the billing of services
“We don’t need applause, we need change!” – Interview with a striking nurse in Berlin
On the 23rd of August 2021, workers of the Berlin hospitals Charité and Vivantes went on a three-day warning strike
The experience of the Nurses’ Initiative in Czech Republic
The Nurses’ Initiative has been operating in the Karlovy Vary Regional Hospital
Updates after recent staffing disputes at hospitals in Germany
In Germany we have seen hospital workers going on strike over staffing levels – initially in the two biggest hospitals in Berlin, then more recently in six university clinics in North-Rhine Westphalia
“Strikes have to be able to emancipate” – What are the results of the Berlin health workers strikes of 2021
The strike in the state-owned Berlin hospitals 2021 will go down in the history of the hospital movement for its length of more than 30 days alone
Interview – NHS walk-in clinic worker
Interview with a worker in an acute medicine walk-in clinic in a hospital in England about the situation during Covid
Interview with a community midwife
This interview reveals, amongst other things, the amount of unpaid overtime worked in the NHS during Covid and the transformation of ‘professional online forums’ into channels to discuss working conditions during the lockdown
The struggle for better staffing levels in hospitals – UK nurse interview and a response from Germany
The struggle for better staffing levels is a struggle against stress, burnout, bitching and bad vibes amongst colleagues and against the neglect of patients
Philosophie der Health Care Assistants (HCA)
Wir sehen, in welchem Zustand die Gesellschaft ist, als würde sie mit einem Barometer gemessen