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NHS spending over £1m a week on private ambulances for 999 callouts, says UNISON 
The NHS is spending at least £61 million a year – over £1m a week or £167,000 a day – hiring private ambulances to attend emergency calls, says UNISON today (Monday) as its annual health conference opens in Bournemouth. North West Ambulance Service spent more than £15m between January and December 2022 on private emergency services, according to data obtained by the union. South Central Ambulance Service spent £19m over the past financial year, North East Ambulance Service is paying just under £7m annually, and South East Coast around £6m a year. East Midlands Ambulance Service predicts a £9.5m spend in the ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - April 17, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Fatima Ayad Tags: News Press release Ambulance Sara Gorton Source Type: news

Extra support for NHS staff welcome but high vacancy levels don ’t help, says UNISON
Commenting on the NHS England £15m package of extra mental health support for staff announced today (Tuesday), UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said: “Extra support for hard-pressed NHS staff will be gratefully received everywhere. Winters are difficult at the best of times, but the combination of colder months and a pandemic takes the pressure to a whole new level. “Memories of the first Covid wave are still fresh, so there’s much anxiety about what’s coming next. Once again, the country is relying upon the entire NHS team to save lives and keep people safe, but they’re not super-human. “Removing the stigm...
Source: UNISON Health care news - October 20, 2020 Category: UK Health Authors: Anthony Barnes Tags: News Press release coronavirus health workers mental health Source Type: news

Blog: When you ’re the wrong sort of ‘vulnerable’
I’ve been a local government worker and a UNISON member for 15 years. I have cerebral palsy and arthritis, which means I sometimes struggle to walk and to communicate. I had a stroke five years ago and I’m more susceptible to infection. If I got COVID-19, I dread to think what might happen. But the government don’t seem to care about my individual circumstances. Instead, they have divided disabled people into two new groups – extremely vulnerable people and vulnerable people.  Only extremely vulnerable people were told to shield. Apparently, I’m just plain old vulnerable. I’m not extremely vulnerable, accordin...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 10, 2020 Category: UK Health Authors: Martin Cullen Tags: Article Covid-19 disabled members Source Type: news

Brexit cannot be an excuse to trash our rights at work
Last night MPs held their first debate on the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU. Unsurprisingly given recent events, Article 50 was high on the agenda. But crucially, the debate also revolved around the rights at work that we enjoy as part of our EU membership. Workplace rights was at the heart of UNISON’s campaign to keep Britain in the EU. We may have lost that argument, but our concerns remain. Before the referendum UNISON members told us that rights at work were their top priority – and in the aftermath, preserving those rights has been one of our top priorities. The government have tried to claim that our righ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - November 8, 2016 Category: UK Health Authors: Dave Prentis Tags: Blogs General secretary's blog BREXIT employment rights EU Source Type: news

Three quarters of councils still insisting on 15 minute homecare visits for elderly and disabled people, reveals UNISON report
Three quarters (74 per cent) of local authorities in England are still limiting homecare visits for their elderly, ill and disabled residents to just 15 minutes, says UNISON in a report published today (Friday). The report – entitled Suffering Alone at Home – is based on an online survey of 1,100 homecare workers and data obtained from a Freedom of Information request (FoI) to the 152 local authorities in England that commission social care visits. The UNISON survey findings mirror those of the FoI request to local councils. Three quarters (74 per cent) of homecare workers who responded felt they did not have enough ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - January 29, 2016 Category: UK Health Authors: Charlotte Jeffs Tags: Press release homecare homecare workers Source Type: news