Well, I didn’t exactly say that I would eat my own head if the London Ambulance Service appointed its first ever female Chief Executive, but I doubted that the title of my next blog would be Ambulance Belle! Well here it is! I was wrong!
I did not think the LAS would be as forward thinking or as radical to appoint a woman to the top job.
Well done to the Chairman, to Martin Flaherty and the rest of the panel.
UNISON welcomes Ann Radmore’s appointment and we hope that we can have a positive working relationship that is in the interest of all staff.
It is a good appointment of someone from within the NHS at a time when ‘private is good – public is bad’ dominates the airwaves.
Whoever was appointed, of course, does not mean milk and honey from now on. We still have a battle on our hands.
The appointment of a new Chief Executive will not make the Coalition cuts go away, the £50m reduction in vital funding stop, or reverse the proposed 980 posts being lost over the next five years. We wish it was so simple.
The London Ambulance Service liner is still sailing upon the government’s austerity agenda. The concern of Unison members is that nothing will change except that we have a new captain on the bridge.Â
Prove us wrong Ann.
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20th October 2012 March For A Future That Works.
LAS UNISON members and friends outside Waterloo HQ. 20th October 2012
The austerity measures being used by this Coalition government are wrong. They are damaging the Public Services, including the London Ambulance Service, and attacking the working lives of our members, their families and community.
That is why LAS UNISON members marched on the 20th October alongside tens of thousands of trade union members, friends and families. From Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park there was a sea of UNISON purple and green.
LAS UNISON on the march!
I want to thank the LAS UNISON members who gave up their day to join us in solidarity with other TUC trade unions. It was good to see so many. Some met at Waterloo Headquarters while others went straight to the march.
We met outside Waterloo HQ because it is important that we remind staff and the public that we care about our Service and that it is worth defending.
20th October was just a march. The march finished at Hyde Park but the campaign against the austerity measures carries on.
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‘Chris from Romford’ has been at it again! He has phoned up another radio phone-in programme and spewed out more rubbish. However,this time, he wasn’t from Romford, but Upminster, and he didn’t work in EOC, but was a Station Officer!
This boy gets around!
He poured out his usual drivel about how good the private ambulance companies are, how low the wages were with these companies and how that is good for the Service and people of London.
His underlying message is that if it wasn’t for the union (who forces up pay and skills, protects staff and defends terms & conditions!) then the Service could be privatised and save money for the government!
All this is laughable of course. Even the radio presenter more or less laughed in his face and demolished his argument.
However, there is a serious side to this. A side that is not funny.
One of the reasons that the Chris(s) of this world can talk about private ambulances, is that more and more of them are being seen on the streets of London.
More and more LAS calls are being done by private ambulance (and volunteer) companies. This is at a time when cutbacks and savings are being made!
We have always used the private and voluntary sector within the LAS as back-up. They were used as a last resort. We understand that, and that it is right, when we are under extreme pressure, we can call upon their help.
But there is a difference between ‘last resort’ and ‘routine planning’!
This has to stop.
The union will be meeting with Senior Management soon to deal with this issue.
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Information of all issues can be found elsewhere on our website.
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We are stronger together.
Eric Roberts
Branch Secretary.
