Responding to today’s news that Carillion has gone into liquidation, UNISON South West regional secretary Joanne Kaye said: “Private firms have played pass the parcel with Swindon’s Carillion employees and now the music has stopped. “For health and school staff in the middle of a transfer from Carillion to yet another private firm running our public services, […]
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Leaked memos from senior hospital management show the scale of the Southmead NHS crisis. The situation at Southmead hospital is replicated across other South West NHS trusts currently on Black Alert. Black alert means a hospital has run out of space or staff and is taking extraordinary measures. This can include diverting emergency patients to […]
High demand and lack of resources have seen RCHT management declare a Black Alert. UNISON explains why problems at Royal Cornwall Hospital are part of a bigger NHS crisis. We initially responded to these questions in an enquiry from Devon and Cornwall Media. The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust was placed in special measures two months […]
Public service union UNISON has today revealed the contents of documents showing the Yeovil Hospital Simply Serve decision. The document details the decision made in a closed session of the Hospital Board’s meeting to transfer 360 staff out of the NHS into a subsidiary company. UNISON has also gained a copy of the business case […]
Board members at Yeovil Hospital will this Wednesday vote on the fate of 350 employees set to be transferred into “Simply Serve”. A management plan to set up a subsidiary company would outsource the workers into Simply Serve, a separate organisation. If Board members go along with the plans the workers would lose their NHS […]
67-year-old personal assistant Margaret Colbridge has won £8250 in compensation after her employer ignored reports of a poisonous smell in her office. Margaret’s employer, North Somerset Community Partnership, passed over several complaints from staff members that the smell made them nauseous and lethargic. Carbon monoxide was only identified as the source of the problem when […]
On Monday, South West MPs had a choice to make. Would they back the region’s public service workers, or would they duck out of the public sector pay debate? Of 47 Conservative MPs in the South West, only one turned up. Alex Chalk of Cheltenham managed to spare the time to make a brief attack […]
Management at Yeovil District Hospital are under fire from staff in public service union UNISON after refusing to release details of their plan to outsource 350 Yeovil hospital staff. If Trust bosses succeed, the 350 estates and facilities staff and hospital buildings will move into a “subsidiary company”. The Trust will initially own the “subco” […]
Public sector workers are thousands of pounds worse off every year because of the pay cap. On Monday 4 December, Members of Parliament will debate ending the seven-year pay cap. But will your MP show up? More than 100,000 people signed UNISON’s petition calling for the end of the pay cap. So now it has […]
UNISON is calling on council leader Tim Warren to stop 300 B&NES job losses under threat from reduced central government funding. The roles face the axe by 2020 after the government told the Council to make another £58m of savings. Initial consultation documents published by the council show that it has already slashed £27m from […]
The board of Gloucestershire Hospitals Trust will this Wednesday (8 November) hold secret talks on the Gloucestershire NHS plan to outsource 900 staff into a subsidiary company. In a bid to cut costs, the Trust wants to pursue an alleged VAT saving by selling services to itself. Managers have been open about their desire to […]
Public service union UNISON has branded a Discovery performance report on the outsourced learning disability service (LDS) provider “a sham” ahead of a Somerset County Council scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday (8 November). The comments come following concerns the Discovery performance report does not reflect service quality since the outsourcing six months ago. The Somerset […]
Strike action planned at the RD&E this weekend has been averted. UNISON and the Trust secured an interim deal on shift working that saw the Exeter porters strike called off. Both parties have held constructive talks this week, brokered by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), following a dispute over proposals to introduce 12 […]
Rosie MacGregor, chair of the national retired members committee, writes the UNISON retired members conference 2017 report The conference was held on 10-11 October 2017 in Llandudno. The first day of conference was taken up with a mix of self-organised group meetings, workshops and a panel debate on Brexit. All of which were well attended. […]
Public service union UNISON notified the Trust that the porters will strike again from 18:00 on 3 November until 06:00 on 6 November. Porters in public service union UNISON will take further strike action at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital after management failed to take 12 hour shift plans off the table. 96% of […]
