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Health and Social care services

Quality health care is important to families, societies and the economy – because healthy workers are more productive. The PSI – which represents 8 million health care workers – believes that care must be available to people who need it, not just to those who can pay. Health care is dangerous work. These workers, and the services they provide, are worthy of everyone’s support. Read more

Korea: KHMU Campaigns Against For-Profit Hospitals

04 April 2019
KHMU members protest against the for-profit hospital in Jeju.

The Korean Health and Medical Union (KHMU) will organise a series of campaigns this year to defend the right to quality public healthcare and for workers’ rights in the sector. At its 21st anniversary ceremony and regular congress which took place on 27-28 February, the union decided to include all-out mobilisation against the expansion of for-profit hospitals and against precarious work.

Community Health Workers in Pakistan – a struggle for union registration

02 April 2019

The Community Health Workers programme in Pakistan, commonly known as Lady Health Workers, LHWs programme was started in 1994 with a staff of nearly 30,000 women. Over the years, the programme has expanded to more than 125,000 employees deployed in all districts of the country. They serve as the cadre that links first-level care facilities to communities.

India federal budget pushes private insurance in health

02 April 2019
Enrolling for National Health Insurance in India. Photo: ILO

Every year, around 55 million Indians are pushed into poverty due to catastrophic healthcare expenditures. And this is only one of the symptoms of a broken system that is also entrenched in ethical issues over inappropriate treatment in private facilities, overcrowded and underfunded public facilities and deteriorating work conditions.

Towards World Health Day 2019

25 March 2019

7 April has been celebrated since 1950 as World Health Day (WHD). This is to commemorate the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1947, and quite importantly to draw global attention to important issues in international health. WHO provides institutional leadership for WHD as a global health awareness day. This includes setting a theme.

The Long Term Plan for the NHS in England

24 March 2019
Health staff discuss the long term plan with UK Prime Minister Theresa May

The UK National Health Service has just published its latest plan for how the NHS in England should be organised over the next five years and beyond. This 136-page document represents a vision of a future health service that is based more on treating patients outside of hospitals, with a larger role for new digital technology and, in theory at least, a much smaller role for market competition.

France: Let's talk about staffing again

24 March 2019
Paramedics and healthcare staff

French union CFDT Santé Sociaux (health and social services) decided to continue with the survey on staffing for paramedics and healthcare staff it initiated in 2017. General Secretary Eve Rescanières explains that this annual barometer is part of the roadmap that the federation has set itself in terms of investment in European bodies and international trade union involvement.

Bulgarian Federation of Trade Unions - Health Services continues to defend workers and public health

24 March 2019
Ivan Kokalov, President of Federation of Bulgarian Trade Unions - Health Services

The Bulgarian Federation of Trade Unions - Health Services works with regional councils around the country to ensure health sector workers all over Bulgaria benefit from labour protection, guarantees on the right to work, decent wages and better quality of life and social status.

PSI General Secretary statement at the 2nd ComHEEG meeting

20 September 2016

This second meeting of the UN High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth (ComHEEG) aims at finalising and formally endorsing the recommendations and the report of the Commission, as well as discussing the way forward towards implementation of these recommendations.

Working for Health and Growth - Investing in the health workforce

20 September 2016
This new report launched by the UN High-Level Commission on Health and Employment Growth (ComHEEG) proposes ambitious solutions to ensure that the world has the right number of jobs for health workers with the right skills and in the right places to deliver universal health coverage.

Canada & USA North America Binational Meeting Report

24 March 2016

The PSI North America Binational meeting was held on March 4, 2016 in Ottawa and hosted by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). Robyn Benson (PSAC), the Canadian titular, and Candice Owley (American Federation of Teachers-AFT), the United States titular, co-chaired the meeting. This meeting followed the Canadian SUBRAC and the United States SUBRAC, both held on March 3, 2016.

Comments on Expert Group background note for the first meeting of the UN High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth

24 March 2016

PSI gave evidence to the United Nations High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth in Lyon, France on 23 March 2016. PSI argued that public spending on public health was both a government obligation to ensure universal access to health care and an investment in economic growth.

Background brief of the SESH Working Group meeting

20 July 2015

The background brief of the PSI working group meeting on Safe and Effective Staffing for Health (SESH), that met on 11-12 May 2015 at UNISON in London, is now available for download in English, French and Spanish.

Report of the SESH Working Group meeting

10 July 2015

The report of the PSI working group meeting on Safe and Effective Staffing for Health (SESH), that met on 11-12 May 2015 at UNISON in London, is now available for download in English, French and Spanish.

Publication: Why Public-Private Partnerships don’t work

17 March 2015
Why Public Private Partnerships don’t work

The new report Why Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) don’t work: The many advantages of the public alternative contains a combination of 30 years of research by David Hall, former Director of Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) University of Greenwich, UK.

PSI Asia Pacific bulletin on health & social services

13 November 2014
AP HSS bulletin

This bulletin on health & social services is a quarterly newsletter published by the PSI Asia Pacific region. To subscribe to the newsletter or contribute, please send an email to jkiejda@nswnma.asn.au. The next edition will be made available on this page.

Financing health care: False Profits and the Public Good

12 November 2014

The research “Financing health care: False Profits and the Public Good', by Jane Lethbridge of Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), University of Greenwich was commissioned by PSI and released on Thursday 13 November at the Australian NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Forum: When profits come first – The true impacts of health privatisation.

PSI Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Intervention Strategy 2014-16

27 October 2014
Ebola in Guinea

The Ebola crisis in West Africa demonstrates clearly the threat posed to societies as a whole when quality public health systems are absent. The dire consequences of the outbreak must be seen, in general, as symptoms resulting from decades of lack of investments in public sector health systems. PSI's strategy, focussed on a trade union response to the crisis, is available for download.

Health unions combat Ebola virus on West African Health Organisation Day

11 July 2014

Healthcare providers in Nigeria join their colleagues across the West African sub-region under the aegis of the West African Health Sector Unions’ Network (WAHSUN) to commemorate the 27th West African Health Organisation (WAHO) Day, with the theme: Universal Health Coverage: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities.

Statement: Healthcare workers killed by Ebola’s worst outbreak ever

08 July 2014

The global trade union federation Public Services International condemns the preventable deaths of dozens of healthcare workers, killed on the job by Ebola because they did not have the necessary tools and equipment.

ILO World Social Protection Report 2014-15

09 June 2014
Front page of ILO World Social Protection report

The International Labour Organization has issued a new report on the critical absence of social protection for the vast majority of people in the world. The World Social Protection Report 2014-2015 presents the latest social security trends and finds that most people are without adequate social protection at times in their lives when it is most needed.

EUPHA Granada Declaration

14 May 2014
EUPHA logo

The European Public Health Association (EUPHA) from 9 to 12 April 2014 organised its 5th European Conference on Migrant and Ethnic Minority Health in Granada, Spain.

The participants adopted a declaration as they felt that "when many European countries are implementing austerity policies, it is especially important that the public health community should speak out on behalf of the poor and marginalized. Among them are many migrants, who for various reasons are especially vulnerable at this time.”

Poster: 28 April International Workers' Memorial Day

17 April 2014

Please click here to download PSI's poster for 28 April, International Workers' Memorial Day.

Workshop: Deepening collaboration to promote the delivery of quality health care

11 February 2014
Group activity during WAHSUN workshop

The West African Health Sector Unions’ Network (WAHSUN) in collaboration with the Public Services International (PSI) held a 2-day workshop in the Garki district of Abuja, Nigeria, on 15-16 January 2014.

World Day for Decent Work 2013

03 October 2013

On 7 October we celebrate the World Day for Decent Work. Public Services International (PSI) joins the international trade union movement in demanding decent work for all and an end to the continuous attacks on trade union rights around the world. We want jobs that provide decent salaries and social security with safe working conditions.

PSI’s 29th World Congress in Durban, South Africa, 27-30 November 2012

22 November 2012

As part of its World Congress events, PSI is holding a series of pre-congress meetings on key issues.

Second Forum & Federation symposium on workers' health

22 May 2012

The next FORUM & FEDERATION Lunch-time Symposium on workers’ health will take place on 26 June from 12:00 to 14:00 at the International Labour Office (ILO), Room 3. The focus is the “Right to Work and Right to Health: Workers with Physical and Mental Disabilities”.

First Forum & Federation symposium on workers’ health

06 December 2011

Together with the NGO Forum for Health, PSI will be participating in the first Forum & Federation symposium on workers’ health to take place on 6 December, from 10:00 to 14:00, at the CICG in Geneva (Salle 4).

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