3 Articles by:
Agnes Arnold-Forster is a writer and historian of healthcare at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
In 1951, the government released the groundbreaking hospital drama Life in Her Hands — a part of a national recruitment campaign to address the chronic shortage of qualified nurses in post-war Britain, and one of the most explicit examples of positive NHS propaganda.
In 1982, thousands of nurses and NHS ancillary staff took action against the government over low pay – and were joined by miners, printers, firefighters and more in the biggest show of solidarity since the 1926 General Strike.
The media says nurses who threaten strike action are undermining the NHS and abandoning patients – but there is no better safeguard of public healthcare than worker organising for better conditions.