Unite angered by proposed closure of Leamington emergency
operations centre
24 September 2010
Unite, the UK’s largest trade union, has expressed outrage and
concern at the sudden and unexpected announcement by the West
Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) to close the Leamington emergency
operations centre and move staff over 75 miles away to Tollgate,
Staffordshire.
The closure of this operations centre will add an extra 150 mile
round-trip for the 60 staff who are being forced to transfer or
lose their jobs. This will in effect add an extra three hours to an
already demanding 12 hour shift. The staff that can’t be redeployed
will be made redundant.
Unite regional officier, Adrian Ross, will be writing to Anthony
Marsh, chief executive of WMAS expressing the union’s grave
concerns and reminding him that assurances had been given that
there would not be any closures that would affect services provided
and that there would be no job losses. Unite is calling on Anthony
Marsh to reverse this decision, which can only be seen as a
cost-cutting exercise.
Unite regional officer, Adrian Ross, said: “This sudden proposed
closure of the emergency ops centre gives us grave concerns. It
comes on top of a further proposal to close the patient transfer
control room. These proposals are totally unacceptable to our
members. We believe this move will have a detrimental effect on the
people of Coventry and Warwickshire.
“When Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust was reluctantly forced
into a merger with the Birmingham, Black Country, Shropshire and
Staffordshire NHS Trusts four years ago to form the West Midlands
Ambulance Service, assurances were given that this would not affect
services provided to the people of the region. Assurances were also
given that there would be no job losses. These assurances now seem
to have disappeared.
“Due to the specialised jobs our members do and with very
limited positions available, the only site our members can transfer
to is in Tollgate, a 150 round-trip adding an extra three hours to
their daily journey.
“With this proposed move WMAS is breaking its promise made to
the public that there would be no change to local emergency
provision.”
ENDS
For further information contact Adrian Ross on 07810 157916 or
Ashraf Choudhury in the Unite Press Office on 020 7420 8914 or
07980 224761
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