Successful Campaigns

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52732300

The government’s official guidelines to protect people returning to work have been published. Thanks to pressure from unions, MPs, and more than 73,000 thousand of us the rules are stronger so more of us will be kept safe. When the government’s draft guidelines were leaked last week, tens of thousands of us leapt into action to push for improvements, and the government listened. There is lots more to do, but this is a step in the right direction.

We did it! We got supermarkets to do the right thing and hand back their business rates relief back to the government. In total, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Asda, Morrisons, and Aldi, are returning £2bn in relief money. Though this money should never have been given to them in the first place, our win proves that by piling on the pressure, we can hold these big businesses to account. And that's not all: we've also influenced how other big retailers handle their relief money. This is huge. By showing support for this campaign, you've played an important role in how we recover from this crisis. Now that we've had £2bn handed back, we need to see this money distributed to the right causes. When we clapped for carers and other essential workers, we weren’t thinking of supermarket CEOs or shareholders, but the thousands of people working on shop floors around the country who took the greatest risks to keep the rest of us safe and well-supplied.

7/4/20 Good news - people power has delivered! Randox, the Northern Ireland diagnostics company which has developed a rapid test to identify Covid-19, has confirmed it is no longer selling its tests online for a high price and is now working directly with the NHS. On Saturday it was confirmed the new NHS testing centre at SSE Arena in Belfast would be using Randox test kits. We need to remain vigilant, but because of you and thousands of others who took action when it was most needed, Randox have been forced to act. This much is clear right now: by coming together and taking a stand, we can force people in power to sit up and listen. Thank you for taking action. More power to you, Nicola, Act Now Coordinator (a collaboration between Uplift and 38 Degrees)

Great News! Dear Supporters Just to inform you that several flights have now landed with hundreds of travellers and our daughter is back home. Thank you to all who signed and shared this petition, to the MPs who pushed for this to happen, to the staff at the Foreign Office and the Peruvian authorities, to Zoe and Caspar whose daughter was travelling with our daughter and were tremendous in their support and help. It is a huge relief to us and I'm sure, all other families and friends. Thank you to 38 degrees for helping and empowering people like us in difficult situations. We are aware that there might still be people in Peru who have not been able to get on the flights. It's important for them to contact the British Embassy, to via help@fco Best wishes Pablo

Wilko scraps plan to cut sick pay for 21,000 staff! https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/coronavirus-wilko-scraps-plan-cut-21745338

We won! British Gas reversed their decision to increase the minimum top-up amount for customers on pay-as-you-go tariffs. They’ve slashed the amount from £5 back to £1. This means people will no longer be forced to decide between spending their last £5 before payday on heating their home, or putting food on the table. And it’s thanks to the 91,000 of us who signed a huge petition, and thousands of us who spoke up and shared our experiences directly with British Gas. The 38 Degrees staff team met the British Gas CEO, and took these stories straight to him. Preet Kaur Gill, the MP who started this campaign on the 38 Degrees website, said: “This is a vital win for the thousands of people affected by British Gas’s decision to raise the minimum pre-pay top-up. I am so thankful to 38 Degrees and the 91,000 people who signed our petition. It would not have been possible without them.”

A recent tweet from the DWP says this will not be government policy! But we'll be keeping an eye out to make sure, in the event of a snap election, plans to raise the pension age don't make it into any party manifestos.

Significant success! I am absolutely delighted to be writing today to tell you that we have had a considerable victory in our campaign to have the beds reinstated at Rothbury Community Hospital. There have had to be compromises, but what we have achieved is a pragmatic agreement. As you will remember, we argued for Coquetdale Cares: The Community Vision, back in 2017. Earlier this year, myself and Maurice Cole, met with Sir Jim Mackey and Claire Riley of the NHS Trust. They really listened to our concerns and began to get things moving. During the last few months, the CCG and the NHS Trust have been listening and working together, and with community representatives, to make what they are calling The Art of the Possible, a reality. The Art of the Possible is their response to our Vision. And we like it! It involves a plan to: Increase outpatient clinics, from falls clinics through to orthopaedics and others, some of which will use new technological links that enable virtual consultations. Provide additional clinical and daycare services utilising the hospital site as a hub for health and care delivery. Services include: Dementia care Learning disability forums Health and well-being clinics Chemotherapy care Enhanced emergency healthcare planning Mental Health and IAPT services Physiotherapy Dentistry Introduce a new metric to measure the number of miles travelled for services and, where possible, the NHS will look to reduce this. Introduce a flexible bed model – with inpatient beds available within the hospital for short-term rehab and end of life care. The number of beds will be dependent on clinical need. Importantly, they have really taken on board our idea to have rooms available for carers/partners/loved ones to stay when appropriate. This will be particularly during end-of-life care, and potentially if someone is admitted with dementia, their carers could stay too. They are definitely looking into making this available. I hope you will agree that this is all excellent news. The team are delighted. However - at the CCG Meeting yesterday, I made a sincere promise to the community - to keep a watchful eye on how this all develops. We have every intention of closely monitoring the unfolding of this. We cannot afford at this stage to let our guard down. The opening date is planned for 1st April 2020. Let's hope there is nothing 'foolish' about it! With great thanks to you for your continued belief in the Campaign and support of it. Love and happiness Katie Katie Scott Co-ordinator, Save Rothbury Community Hospital Campaign https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-49497435 https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/victory-sight-rothbury-hospital-campaigners-16826710 https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/health/health-chiefs-and-campaigners-hail-significant-progress-on-future-of-rothbury-hospital-492708