Recruitment & Information Days
Attention Apprentices!
Branch Staff, Representatives, Officers and
Local Area Organisers are currently
running a series of information days in
Quenellies restaurant. This is an ideal
opportunity for staff to sign up, find out
more information and meet the reps
currently working in the Trust. If you are
already a member you could always come
along to check that your membership
record is up to date. Keep checking the
branch website, Facebook page, twitter
and notice boards for future dates.
As we welcome an increasing number of
apprentices into our branch we would like
this opportunity to reach out and establish
a line of communication. It is our goal to
set up a network for all of our apprentices,
allowing us to keep in touch and for other
apprentices to speak with each other. If
you have any success or news stories you
would like to share with us please let us
know and we would be happy to share
them with the rest of our membership.
Have you experienced any difficulties in
you role? Are you fully aware of all of the
benefits and offers available to you
through your UNISON membership?
CONTACT US TODAY
Branch Office: 0191 4452371
Email: unison@ghnt.nhs.uk
Welfare
Lorraine Taylor: 07866483992
Jimmy Reynolds: 07581308964
David Baird: 07875690106
Published and printed by UNISON
Gateshead Health Branch. If you
require this newsletter in large print
please contact the Branch office.
Views expressed in this publication are
not necessarily those of UNISON
Gateshead Health Branch.
If you would like to become more involved
in your branch, or would simply like more
information on what UNSION can offer
you as an apprentice please contact the
branch office today.
Bridges to Learning Training
Don’t forget that as a UNISON member
you are entitled to access learning through
Bridges to Learning. Bridges to Learning
encourages workers in the Health, Social
Care and Education sectors to develop in
their jobs through participating in learning
and training. They work with employers to
create recognised progression routes for
individuals and teams to move forward.
The latest course brochure can be found
here:
http://www.bridgestolearning.org.uk/wor
kshops-conferences/
GATESHEAD HEALTH BRANCH
NEWSLETTER
April 2014
Day of Action Thursday 5th June
Delegates at UNISON Health Conference
have voted overwhelmingly, passing a
motion for a ballot for industrial action up
to and including strikes in response to the
Tories’ insulting pay offer. Branch
Secretaries, Maria Alberts and Sam Dae,
and Steward Ellen Rudd from Domestic
Services were in attendance at the
Conference in Brighton.
UNISON’s Head of Health, Christina
McAnea said, “We’re not asking members
to strike for 1% we’re saying strike for a
pay award that starts to restore the value
of your pay, fight for a living wage for all,
and because a demoralised and demotivated workforce is not good for
patients.”
Several delegates raised the importance
of coordinating with as many other groups
striking back as possible, such as the
teachers and local government workers
who could be striking again in June.
The union’s Health Service Group
Executive moved the motion, with
enthusiastic support from health workers
speaking from the conference floor.
In one moving speech, a nurse spoke with
emotion about the difficulty of having to
explain to his kids about having to take
out a Wonga loan to keep food on the
table, and got a huge applause as he
concluded saying that’s why he’d be
voting to strike.
Delegates spoke in anger about the 11
percent rise for MPs while health workers
continued to stomach pay freezes.
In support of the motion, the branch will
be organising events across the Trust,
culmination in a day of action outside the
Queen Elizabeth Hospital on 5th June.
Following discussion with members during
the recent recruitment and information
events, it is clear that you are angry at the
proposed 1% pay rise and would be willing
to support some level of industrial action.
Why not log onto our Facebook or Twitter
account to let us know how you feel?
Would you be willing to strike to support
the campaign for a living wage for all? Do
you have any concerns if industrial action
were to go ahead? Or would you like to
get more involved in the branch and
supporting this campaign? Let us know
you opinion.
Safeguard Mental Health Services in
Gateshead
Northumberland Tyne & Wear Mental
Health Trust are planning to implement
massive changes to our vital mental
health services in Gateshead and across
the whole of Tyne & Wear. Adult inpatient
beds at the Tranwell Unit are earmarked
for closure, as beds in our neighbouring
sites.
The proposals transfers those adult
Mental health Services to the new
hospital at Hopewood Park at Ryhope.
There will be no inpatient adult mental
health beds between Morpeth and
Ryhope! There is an overall reduction
from the current level of 723 beds to
around 425 in the whole of the
Northumberland and Tyne &Wear area, a
reduction of some 300 beds.
They admit that like many other Trusts
these closures are financially driven
through the £12 million “efficiency
savings” imposed by the government
annually. In the consultation at South
Tyneside the Trust admitted that there is
to be NO real investment in community
services other than the introduction of
'digital dictation' for CPNs.
Many patients in a crisis situation self
refer to an acute unit after talking with
their carers whilst a few may be sectioned
to protect themselves and their loved
ones. And if that is the case how nearer to
home is the Tranwell Unit compared with
Cherry Knowl at Ryhope, the other side of
Sunderland? As our members tell us,
when a member of the family self refers,
or is sectioned they want to be as near
them as possible not locked up in another
part of the region.
INFORMATION UPDATE FORM
It is of vital importance that the information we hold about you is correct, current and up to
date. If you have moved house, changed name or telephone numbers in the last few years it
is possible that you have not informed us. Also if you have changed department, moved up
the pay scale or returned to work after retirement or long term sick we need to know. If you
do not check your payslip on a regular basis your membership could have lapsed without
even knowing it and you would not be entitled to the help, support or special offers and
benefits available to UNISON members.
Please take the time to complete this short request form and return it to the branch office, it
will only take a few moments and will give you the peace of mind that comes with knowing
you are covered at work.
NAME:______________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS:____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
TEL NUMBER:_____________________(HOME)________________________(WORK)
_____________________________(MOBILE)
Firstly, it is completely unacceptable to
provide acute mental health services,
currently provided at the Tranwell Unit
outside the borough. Many of our
members and their families have found
these acute services provided in
Gateshead as playing a crucial role in their
recovery.
Using the old excuse to get rid of acute
mental health services, The NTW mental
health Trust say they want to improve and
enhance specialist community mental
health services so more people can be
treated in their own homes, or closer to
home.
In conclusion we are totally opposed to
the closure of local inpatient services for
younger adults. Improve community
services, don’t use this as an excuse to
close acute services in the borough.
Fighting to defend these services and
ensuring they are safeguarded and
enhanced to meet the challenges we face
in mental health must be taken up by all.
Look out for the details on the upcoming
public consultation.
By Maddy Nettleship, Retired Member
EMAIL:______________________________________________________________________
JOB TITLE:____________________________________________________________________
WORKPLACE:_________________________________________________________________
BAND:_________________________ANNUAL SALARY:_______________________________
PAYROLL NUMBER:____________________________________________________________
PLEASE COMPELTE AND RETURN TO JULIE FISHER AT THE BRANCH OFFICE.