Members of the public should make their voices heard over “damaging” cuts to the NHS Prescription Ordering Direct (POD) service in Norfolk and Waveney, UNISON says today. Residents are being urged to take part in a public engagement launched this week over plans to withdraw the service. POD provides a dedicated telephone service for patients […]
NHS
Cleaners and caterers at an NHS mental health unit in Ipswich will stage a protest on Thursday over the “poverty wages” paid by contractor G4S, UNISON announces today. Most G4S staff at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) are only paid the minimum wage of £10.42 an hour — £1 an hour less than […]
West Suffolk Hospital workers are planning to hold a protest this week against the reintroduction of staff parking charges, UNISON has announced today. Staff have not had to pay for parking since the start of the pandemic, but the trust wants to bring in charges at a flat rate of £2 a day from 1 […]
NHS workers who belong to UNISON have voted decisively to accept the pay offer from the government, says the union today. The consultation of 288,000 NHS workers across England closed at 3pm this afternoon. Almost three quarters (74%) voted to accept the offer, and 26% to reject. Turnout in the consultation exercise was 53%, with […]
Planned East of England strikes for 20 March have been put on pause after the government made a new offer in the long-running dispute over NHS pay. After two weeks of frantic negotiations, ministers have offered an additional one-off lump sum for 2022/23 that rises in value up the NHS pay bands. This is worth […]
The strike planned for next Wednesday involving thousands of East of England Ambulance Service staff and other NHS workers has been suspended to allow UNISON to enter pay talks with the government, the union said today. Following a meeting of its health committee this afternoon, UNISON announced it was suspending the action scheduled for 8 […]
Around 350,000 NHS employees, working for more than 250 health trusts and boards across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are being asked to vote for strike action over pay this winter from today, says UNISON. Porters, nurses, security guards, paramedics, cleaners, midwives, occupational therapists and other NHS staff across the rest of the UK join […]
Hospital workers in Essex are celebrating after health bosses promised to keep staff parking free for several more months. Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust had wanted to reintroduce staff parking charges — suspended during the pandemic — from 1 August but has now told UNISON it will put the brakes on its plans […]
Cutting staff benefits at West Suffolk Hospital is “kicking health workers while they’re down,” UNISON says today. The West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust board voted today on a package of cuts to staff conditions, including reintroducing parking charges from March. It comes just days after the government announced a real-terms pay cut for more than […]
Thousands of Essex health staff face an effective pay cut as hospitals bosses plan to reintroduce parking charges, UNISON warns today. Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSEFT), which runs Broomfield, Basildon and Southend hospitals, has told UNISON officials it wants to reintroduce staff parking charges from 1 August. Charges were scrapped during the […]
With ambulance staff facing an unprecedented crisis, EEAS UNISON branch chair Glenn Carrington was invited on to the BBC’s PM programme to explain how workers are coping. "It's terrible. We're on our knees, it's absolutely terrible." Listen to @UnisonEEAS chair Glenn explain what's happening to the ambulance service on the PM programme. pic.twitter.com/HrCrgwbyXI — UNISON […]
NHS staff from across the East of England are protesting outside Colchester Hospital today on the day that NHS staff should have received a pay rise. Government delays mean that nurses, porters, healthcare assistants and other NHS employees in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will not get a wage increase until May at the earliest. […]
The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) is the first NHS Trust to have signed up to UNISON’s new Anti-Racism Charter which aims to help tackle racism in the public sector. The charter commits organisations and their leaders to a raft of pledges designed to prevent all forms of conscious or unconscious racial bias. This […]
2021 was a tricky time for recruiting and many branches across the union struggled to maintain the growth of the last few years. But our East of England Ambulance Service branch managed a bumper year, with a net gain of more than 150 members over 2021. Branch chair Glenn Carrington (pictured) explained how the groundwork […]
Health workers have been pushed to the limit by Omicron, but bosses’ solutions won’t work in the long term, warns Tim Roberts