{"id":1262,"date":"2013-05-02T10:56:56","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T09:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bsb.lasunison.com\/?p=1262"},"modified":"2013-05-02T11:20:31","modified_gmt":"2013-05-02T10:20:31","slug":"dont-blame-the-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/?p=1262","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Blame The Staff."},"content":{"rendered":"

I work for the best Ambulance Service in Britain!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m sorry if that statement upsets other Ambulance Services, their staff, and friends of mine\u00c2\u00a0who do a great job, but there you are, it’s the way I feel!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I suppose that I should also apologise to those people within, and outside, the National Health Service, who only see Unions as vehicles of confrontation, as a\u00c2\u00a0wrecking force,\u00c2\u00a0and not as a force for good, for\u00c2\u00a0bonding &\u00c2\u00a0building.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am sorry to disappoint you, but we care about our Ambulance Service, we care about, and for, our patients,\u00c2\u00a0we care about the Public Sector, and, more importantly, we care about our members and staff who make the\u00c2\u00a0NHS and Ambulance Services what they are.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are a force for good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our members and staff come to work every day to do a good job for the London Ambulance Service in looking after, and caring for, the people of this great Capital City of ours.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, you wouldn’t think that after reading the booklet ‘A Time For Change’.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everything that is seen to be wrong is simply\u00c2\u00a0laid at the feet of A&E\u00c2\u00a0staff. \u00c2\u00a0The way staff have Rest Breaks. The way staff take Annual Leave. The way staff work their Rosters. The way staff do their work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blame the staff, blame the Union.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I may have misread it of course as there is a lot to take in, but it seems that all our agreements, made in good faith, are now the barriers to a successful Service in the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is blatantly\u00c2\u00a0unfair.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are not against change. The world has changed. The NHS has changed. Ambulance responses have changed. London Ambulance Service has changed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, of course, nothing stands still. The Union\u00c2\u00a0understands that, our members\u00c2\u00a0understand that. Change is constant as they say.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former\u00c2\u00a0Tory Prime Minister\u00c2\u00a0Harold Macmillan\u00c2\u00a0once said that a ‘Wind of Change’ was blowing through Africa and I don’t think I exaggerate if I say that a ‘Tsunami of Change’ is blowing through the LAS! (He was also responsible for the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ but that’s a different story and\u00c2\u00a0I will leave it at that)!<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNISON\u00c2\u00a0wants to save jobs within the LAS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNISON wants to reduce, and then get rid of the Private Sector from the LAS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNISON wants investment and recruitment within the LAS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNISON has a vision for London Health that the vast\u00c2\u00a0majority of Londoners also\u00c2\u00a0want and support.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To bring that about we have to treat staff fairly and treat staff right. I’m not sure ‘A Time for Change’ does that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forewarned is forearmed. Unfortunately we were not forewarned.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a duty and a responsibility to engage\u00c2\u00a0with Senior Management over these plans and proposals and we will be doing that over the next few weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one can disagree with the general principles and thrust contained within ‘A Time For Change’. We all want staff to be better trained and\u00c2\u00a0better used. We all want the incessant workload in London\u00c2\u00a0to be reduced so that staff are not ran ragged every day. We all want better outcomes for patients. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The devil<\/strong> is in the detail however, and it is amongst\u00c2\u00a0that detail that we have concerns.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While not wanting to\u00c2\u00a0throw the baby out with the bath water, we have to make sure that\u00c2\u00a0the baby has been washed in the first place.<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/news.lasunison.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Patient-Care-A5-v21.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/news.lasunison.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Rest-Break-Arrangements-FINAL-DRAFT-17Apr13.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/news.lasunison.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Annual-Leave-Arrangements-FINAL-DRAFT-17Apr13.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/news.lasunison.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Active-Area-Cover-Arrangements-FINAL-DRAFT-17Apr13.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

More information will be sent out soon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Best wishes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eric Roberts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Branch Secretary<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I work for the best Ambulance Service in Britain! I’m sorry if that statement upsets other Ambulance Services, their staff, and friends of mine\u00c2\u00a0who do a great job, but there you are, it’s the way I feel! I suppose that I should also apologise to those people within, and outside,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1262"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1296,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions\/1296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}