Press Room

Updated 26th of June 2006

PRESS RELEASE

26/06/2006: 09:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Branch demo brings Deansgate to a standstill

The march and demo organised by the Branch brought Deansgate to a standstill on Saturday June 24th as angry Pennine staff together with their families took to the streets in force to protest at the 800 job cuts.

The march was colourful and noisy and was led by an enthusiastic band of samba drummers and supported by a veritable orchestra of world cup whistles. Along the route, participants collected hundreds of signatures for the petition and people came out of shops along the route to supply the marchers with food and drink.

Patients, pensioners, disabled people, local students and others helped to swell the ranks as the march headed towards the amphitheatre by the Bridgewater Canal in Castlefield where a rally involving several speakers led by Branch Sec Pete Hinchliffe heard how Government rather than management were the main culprits.

Pete, holding aloft a family-size Mars Bar in a mock tribute to the Mars World Cup ‘I Believe’ advertising campaign brought his speech to a triumphal end by saying that he did not believe that the people of this country would stand by and see health workers by the thousand thrown onto the scrapheap. He also told the rally that despite the £160,000 salary on offer, all the applicants for the vacant CEO’s post had suddenly and mysteriously withdrawn their applications 48 hours before the interview! Pete said that they had been offered the job of a lifetime only to find out that the job in question was as captain of the Titanic shortly after it had suffered a ‘slight collision’ mishap with an iceberg!

Some of the real heroes of the march were the children; some of them carrying home-made placards with mottoes such as “Will there still be an NHS when I grow up Grandad?” Paul Burns (8), Jack Delaney (3) and Sam Duxbury (8) were among those who helped stimulate great press interest in the march. All news channels carried footage of the march and demo; most notably Sky TV who stationed a transmitter van and full crew to cover the event.

Speaking after the event, Pete said that the hard work organising the event had been well worth it. He said that he had been so proud of his involvement and delighted to have been congratulated by people after the event. “This sends out a clear message to Blair and all the others who have broken faith with the electorate he said.”

Brian Porter, Branch Chair from Fairfield General Hospital said that the demo had been a great success and should make people sit up and take notice.

On Thursday June 29th, 10 local MPs are to meet with Regional Minister Rosie Winterton to look at ways of reducing the impact of the £22M budget cut that lies at the root of Pennine’s decision to axe up to 800 posts.

There will be further demonstrations against the cuts on July 5th in lunchtime rallies held outside hospital gates across Pennine.

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PRESS RELEASE

19/06/2006: 09:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Branch to lead City-Wide March & Demo

Following the news that 800 posts could be lost at Pennine Acute because of a £22M shortfall in its budget, Pennine Acute Health Branch has organised a march through Manchester city centre on Saturday June 24th culminating in a demonstration at Castlefield where they will be joined by other Pennine unions in order to show their anger at the cuts that could see 10% of the Pennine workforce on the scrap-heap. The march will assemble opposite Victoria Station at 11.30am. All staff are being encouraged to join the march and even to bring their children and families along.

Branch Secretary Pete Hinchliffe said, “The message is clear. This is not just about jobs. It strikes at the very core of patient services. It is often forgotten that NHS staff and their families live close to the hospitals they work in. When cuts like these are made, the health of the whole region can suffer. We are opposed to all job losses whether by so-called ‘natural wastage’ or compulsory redundancies.

“It is a well known fact that the population served by Pennine has some of the worst health problems in the UK. We should be employing more health staff not sacking the ones we have. We do not know yet what particular posts will be affected but job cuts in any area will be strongly resisted. There have already been strong calls for industrial action if this goes ahead. This government can always find money to go fighting wars in Iraq but doesn’t seem to be interested in providing adequate healthcare for its own citizens. As was evidenced at the Unison and Royal College of Nursing conferences last month where the Health Minister was booed, jeered and heckled, the government has clearly lost the confidence of NHS staff.”

At the root of this issue is the way in which acute trusts are being funded by central government and in particular, the ‘payment by results’ system. Branch officials have attended a lobby of MPs in Parliament and is organising a massive petition to hand in to 10 Downing Street. Hospital gate demonstrations are being planned for July 5th, the anniversary of the founding of the NHS.

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PRESS RELEASE

EMBARGOED UNTIL 09.00: 11th of July 2005

Unions welcome review of Pennine management

Following on from the double votes of ‘no confidence’ in the trust Board of Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (PAHT), the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) is to send in a crack team to carry out a review. The team, headed by a former president of the Royal College of Physicians, Sir George Alberti will be tasked with:-

Branch Secretary Pete Hinchliffe who is also Secretary and Convenor to the Central Shop Stewards Committee said, “Whilst we are concerned that the SHA took so long to respond to our letter of June 2 nd, we will co-operate fully with this review. We also have concerns that this review will take place when many key staff will be away on annual leave. Earlier this month, we issued our own 12-point Action Plan for improvement and hope to discuss this fully with Sir George and his team.

“We have always expressed our willingness to talk. Our concerns are for our members and our patients and we believe that the Staff Attitude Survey shows that the existing Board have got it very badly wrong. We need to ensure that our patients are looked after by staff whose morale is high, who feel involved in the decision-making and who don’t feel threatened or intimidated at work. We need to maintain a careful balance between hitting government targets, balancing the books and making Pennine an organisation that staff enjoy working within in order to ensure that our patients get the best possible care.”

The unions will be meeting with management this week to discuss their 12-point Action Plan and look at ways of taking this forward. They have also planned to meet with local MPs on August 12 th.

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NOTES TO EDITORS


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PRESS RELEASE

EMBARGOED UNTIL 09.00: 3rd of July 2005

Unions challenge local health chiefs with 12-point 'Action Plan'

At an Emergency General Meeting of the Central Shop Stewards Committee held at the Royal Oldham Hospital on June 30 th, it was decided that, as a follow up to the ‘no-confidence’ vote held earlier in the month, unions issue management with a 12-point ‘Action Plan’ to protect staff and patient services.

Union representatives are due to meet with management on July 13 th in order to discuss the plan in detail and are prepared for some tough talking.

Pete Hinchliffe, Staff Side Secretary said, “We held a preliminary meeting with the Chairman Steven Price and told him that although the ‘no confidence’ vote remains on the table, we were prepared to meet with management and put our proposals to them. We have seen nothing yet to make us believe that they are willing to ‘change their spots’ but we are always willing to let them impress us. We see the Action Plan as a basis for further discussion, not as a complete solution. The problems at Pennine go far beyond something that can be rectified by a plan like this but it may give us a way forward.”

The Action Plan, in paraphrase is listed below.

 

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PRESS RELEASE

EMBARGOED UNTIL 17.30: 21st of June 2005

Consultants’ and Trade Unions ‘Link Up’ in ‘no Confidence’ Vote

The Central Stewards Committee of Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust today praised the courageous action of the consultants who today returned their own ‘no confidence’ vote in Trust management, mirroring a similar vote taken by the Central Shop Stewards Committee earlier in the month.

Pete Hinchliffe, the Secretary to the Shop Stewards Committee said, “Like us, the consultants have very deep concerns about the management style at Pennine and in their intransigent approach. The results of the Staff Attitude Survey, though not the worst in the NHS are an abysmal reflection of the way that staff feel alienated from the decision-making. We applaud the courageous step that the consultants have taken. We know that many of the pressures faced daily by our members are also felt by consultant medical staff and we share their concerns.

“We will be meeting with the consultants later in the week to discuss how to take this issue forward. We may need to give the Trust a further short period of time in which to make some sort of effective response but I have to express disappointment that neither they nor the Strategic Health Authority have yet replied to us despite the fact that our own vote was taken on June 1st.”

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PRESS RELEASE

23/05/2005: 09:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Health workers Union 'Deeply Concerned'
as Local NHS Trust Crisis Looms

Pete Hinchliffe, Branch Secretary of UNISON Pennine Acute Health Branch said that he was ‘deeply concerned’ at the worsening crisis within Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. This has seen the consultant medical staff hold a series of meetings to register a ‘no confidence’ vote in the Chief Executive and could result in new management arrangements.

Mr Hinchliffe went on to say that most of what he knew came from the local press and internet news services. He said, “This confirms, yet again, the dismal findings reported in the Staff Attitude Survey where staff clearly do not feel informed or involved in decision-making. In fact, at the time of writing and despite the seriousness of the situation, not one member of the management has contacted us with regard to this issue. To date, all our information comes from what we read in the press and from highly placed but unofficial sources within the Trust

“We are not entirely surprised by the decision of the consultants and have had many serious concerns about the management style of the present team for some time.”

Brian Porter, the Branch Chair said, “This is the last thing that the staff need. They are already worried about the current review of services in the North East Sector of the Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority and know that this could see some services ultimately transferring to the Primary Care Trusts. The worst thing is, we have been told nothing despite the fact that 4000 of our members work for the Trust.”

An Action Plan has been drawn up by the Branch and this includes:-

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PRESS RELEASE

25/04/2005: 1400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Angry NHS Staff in Car Park Protest

As a follow-up to last month’s protest in which angry staff sent in written protests over increased car parking to the Chief Executive, things have moved up a gear as staff looks set to register hundreds of individual formal grievances with their employer, Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

The increases range from 50% to 58% and have been imposed on staff despite official protests by all of the trade unions in the Trust.

Branch Secretary Pete Hinchliffe said, “With regard to the annual Staff Attitude Survey this Trust has just been slated for having one of the worst results in the country. Staff say they do not feel informed, involved or valued. It’s alright the Chief Executive and the Chairman telling staff how much they are appreciated but our members are interested in actions not words and the actions of this Trust in relation to these increases speak volumes. Quite simply, they don’t give a toss whether we object to them or not. They just intend to go ahead and do it anyway.”

“We submitted counter-proposals to these increases saying, for instance, that they should be raised only in line with the annual pay awards which for the past two years have been a paltry 3.225%. This suggestion, which would have been accepted without a murmur by staff, was dismissed out of hand. In fact, they’ve never even bothered to meet with us to discuss our counter proposals. When we turned up at the Car Parking Policy Group to discuss them, we were told that this was not an appropriate meeting to raise our concerns.”

“When we raised this issue at the Trust Board, one of them had the effrontery to say that it was unfair when we pointed out that virtually no local employers in the private sector, with whom we compete for much of our labour, use their staff as ‘cash cows’ in this way. We were flabbergasted when they responded by telling us that NHS wages were far higher than those working in supermarkets etc. Clearly, they have no idea what people such as porters, domestics and catering assistants earn. This just goes to show how out of touch some members of the Board are with the real problems faced by NHS staff. We’d like to see how they’d like to live for a few weeks on a porter’s wage.”

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PRESS RELEASE

24/03/2005: 1400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hospital Staff say ‘No’ to Car Park Increases

Staff working for Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust which operates hospitals in Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and North Manchester have been angered by proposals to increase car parking charges by between 50% and 58%.

Backed by their trade unions, hospital staff are sending letter to the Chief Executive complaining about these charges and have asked for a change of heart. Branch Secretary said, “This is nothing less than a tax on coming to work. We’ve been told that the increases are due to ‘unforeseen costs’ in the security budget but why should staff be forced to fund the Trust’s operations in this way? Last week we had a nurse and two security officers badly injured at work. Is the Trust really telling us that we have to pay to be protected at work?”

At the Royal Oldham Hospital, staff were queuing up to sign letters to the Chief Executive condemning the charges. The problem is particularly acute at Oldham where the number of car parking spaces is woefully inadequate.

Brian Porter, Branch Chair who is based at Fairfield General Hospital said, “For Bury staff, this is particularly hard to swallow as we enjoyed free parking up to two years ago. I wouldn’t mind but half my time is spent on ‘Improving Working Lives’ groups where we are supposed to come up with imaginative schemes to encourage staff to work at Pennine. It feels like we are working for a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ outfit. Our members are angry and upset.”

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PRESS RELEASE

14/02/2005: 0900

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pension Proposals Get Thumbs-Down By Local NHS Staff

Branch Organises Day Of Action

Branch members will be involved in a demonstration outside the gates of North Manchester General Hospital on Friday, February 18 th in order to draw the public’s attention to the proposals to alter the NHS pension scheme. These proposals will see the retirement raised to age 65 for all employees rather than at age 60 as at present.

Branch Chair Brian Porter said that UNISON had been fighting for years to lower the retirement age to 55 and that these proposals, if carried out, amounted to a betrayal of health-workers.

“It is not just the staff themselves who are concerned.” Said Brian. “We have also been getting calls from patients and from ordinary members of the public who are appalled at these proposals. God knows you don’t join the NHS to become rich but you do not expect to have to work until you drop either. I’ve been to far too many funerals of colleagues who have passed away before retirement age. The government has to realise that working for the health service is no picnic. Many of our members spend most of their working lives in extremely stressful jobs. We think that the present scheme includes maximum flexibility for those who plan to retire early. Our members are angry and for many of them this really is the last straw.”

The peaceful and orderly demonstration will take place outside the main entrance on Delaunay’s Road, Crumpsall from 12-2pm on the 18th. It is timed to coincide with the TUC’s ‘Pensions Day of Action’ to be held across the UK on the same day.

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PRESS RELEASE

16/10/2004: 0900

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Branch Urges Caution in A4C Ballot

UNISON-PAH Branch believes that Members should vote cautiously in the national ballot of UNISON Members that closes at noon on November 5th 2004. The ballot is over whether or not to accept ‘Agenda For Change’, the proposed new pay, grading and terms & conditions package set to be implemented over the next few months.

Branch Sec Pete Hinchliffe said that the only responsible advice that he could give to members regarding voting was to urge caution and look at the whole package. He said, “The fact that they have taken segments such as Unsocial Hours and On-Call payments out of A4C to be decided separately by April 2006 is supposed to be good news. However, I’ve never been one for signing blank cheques and like many members I believe that by fudging these important issues, we are being asked to sign up wearing a blindfold.

“I also know that many members working for PAHT are very concerned that they are being asked to vote before any of the affected staff know what pay band they will be placed on. How can I in all conscience advise them to vote for a deal that could result in many of them needing pay protection? The decision as to whether or not to accept A4C will affect all of us for the rest of our working lives and into retirement. I cannot, in all honesty act like ‘The Man From Del Monte’ and say ‘Yes’ when I have so little hard information to go on.”

Branch believes that if members feel that they have enough information and believe that A4C is a good deal for the NHS then they should consider voting ‘Yes’. However, if they still have unanswered questions about A4C and feel that acceptance carries with it an element of risk then they should register a ‘No’ vote.

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PRESS RELEASE

02/04/2004: 0900

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hospital strike averted as pay dispute settled

The strike by domestics and porters staff at North Manchester General and Fairfield Hospitals has been settled after Danish multinational ISS Mediclean agreed to settle. The strike threat which would have brought both hospitals to their knees had been suspended pending further talks and was the result of frustration after months of negotiations had failed to produce a settlement. The domestic staff, who currently earn just £4.61 per hour were demanding £5.00 per hour and on Monday April 31st, ISS Mediclean finally agreed to pay this from April 1st plus give an additional 2 days annual to all staff with three years service and above. The members agreed to accept the deal at mass meetings held at both hospitals on April 1st.

The negotiations had never been easy going and a senior team of UNISON regional officials were called in to supplement the efforts of Branch Officers. Dirty tactics by management included trying to split the porters and domestics by having an ‘under the counter’, unofficial ballot which was rightly boycotted by many members who wanted nothing to do such divisive tactics.

The real coup for UNISON was in the recruitment of almost 70 new members plus signing up three new stewards: Kevin Clayton, Lorraine Power (NMGH) and Sue Ganley (Fairfield). Branch Chair Brian Porter said, “This really was a magnificent effort by staff who saw through the management shenanigans, stuck together and won through. These low paid staff are a credit to the whole trade union movement and we are proud of them. The real culprit in this is the government’s scandalous two tier workforce which means that poverty pay comes as standard for many healthcare workers.”

ISS Mediclean have also agreed to set up a Joint Consultative Committee in order to thrash out local issues in the future.

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PRESS RELEASE

21/03/2004: 2100

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

100 Health Staff to lose jobs in cash crisis?

SOUNDBITE: "We're on the 'road to nowhere' " claims health union.

Relationships between trade unions and management at crisis-hit Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust continue to plummet after news that up to 100 redundancies are imminent. CEO Chris Appleby is announcing the news to staff at so-called 'Executive Road shows' at each of the four main hospital sites. At the Trust Board meeting held earlier in the month, it had already been revealed that 170 posts were at risk but is was felt that a strategy of not filling vacant posts could avoid the need for redundancies.

UNISON-PAH Branch Secretary Pete Hinchliffe said, " Staff are extremely worried by this latest news and we are asking for full information from the Trust so that we can make a case to save as many of our members jobs as possible. We have pointed out to the CEO that staff were assured that jobs would not be at risk when the four former health Trusts merged less that two years ago. Mr Appleby has repeatedly told us that it is now time to move on. What he forgets to mention is that for many staff, this 'moving on' seems to be taking place on the 'road to nowhere'. We have informed all our local MP's and are hoping for firm support from them. "

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NOTES TO EDITORS

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