The government's pitch for change

The desire for change was the big message from the recent general election.  Wes Streeting, the new health secretary, has already been refreshingly honest by publicly stating that the NHS ‘is broken’. He has also called for ideas from frontline health staff on how the NHS can stop doing ‘stupid stuff’. But we’re all waiting to see what he does about the immediate issues faced by CSP members.

Labour inherited a lot of problems including waiting lists, the NHS pay award and future pay arrangements, the workforce crisis, getting people back to work, health inequality, under investment in community services and prevention. These are all issues the CSP is lobbying for on your behalf. After the election results last month, we immediately got in touch with newly elected MPs and new ministers to offer our advice and to forge relationships. You’ll see more about this in our future email bulletins and in Frontline. 

Realism is needed alongside the desire for change, both by the new government and the CSP. Whilst the new government can give permission to stop doing ‘stupid’ things immediately, transformation of services and development of the right future workforce doesn’t happen overnight. And every interested group, charity and individual will be lobbying for their concerns to be prioritised. We will strive to make members’ voices heard. 

Closer to home, we’ve had our own election results for CSP Council  and you can view the latest in our series on physio and exercise rethink rehab.