Unite the union rally and lobby of Westminster Parliament – 22 April 2026

Unite members from across Britain and across the NHS, gathered outside parliament in London to highlight concerns about the state of NHS services. Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary spoke of her deep concerns that people are not getting the help they need. The rally was organised in response to growing frontline reports that NHS services, already depleted, are facing closures of services, redundancies, recruitment freezes and outsourcing to private companies. Nick Bailey, Unite Acting National Officer, also spoke of his deep concerns that the public is being put at risk. Unite reps from a number of areas talked of struggles to maintain services.
 
Our Unite Applied Psychologists Organising Professional Committee (OPC) had representatives present from Manchester, Oxfordshire, Stirling, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
 
David Ward, a Unite rep in the Nottinghamshire area, gave a moving speech about the decommissioning threat facing a highly regarded and well used cancer centre for psychosocial health. He said: "Something deeply wrong is happening within our NHS … An NHS service - an award-winning, life-changing service - is being quietly dismantled. The East Midlands Cancer Alliance Centre for Psychosocial Health is being decommissioned."! 

He went on to highlight, that despite this being an award-winning service, which has all the ingredients that the NHS 10 Year Plan wants – using digital, being accessible, community-based and focused on prevention, there has been pressure to decommission because of national governmental strategy to make harmful and harsh, year on year cuts to services. 

This is in direct opposition to the previous Health Minister, Wes Streeting’s, promises to ensure better services for cancer patients. David and colleagues called for transparency, accountability and an immediate halt to this decommissioning.
 
Committee members later met with MPs to let them know of national concerns and to share our discussion document. The NHS is in crisis – please get in touch with us if you want to share your concerns, or to get more involved in raising these issues with decision makers and stakeholders in the system. Your applied psychologist committee is working for you and with you. We are stronger together.