{"id":937,"date":"2012-02-28T23:47:59","date_gmt":"2012-02-28T23:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bsb.lasunison.com\/?p=937"},"modified":"2012-02-28T23:47:59","modified_gmt":"2012-02-28T23:47:59","slug":"private-ambulances-chickens-coming-home-to-roost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/?p=937","title":{"rendered":"Private Ambulances: Chickens Coming Home To Roost!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question: Is there a link between an increase in the use of private ambulance companies within the London Ambulance Service\u00c2\u00a0and the jobs\/ posts that are being left vacant or going all together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Answer: Not half there is!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

When the Service published the Cost Improvement Programme (CIP) early\u00c2\u00a0in 2011\u00c2\u00a0I wrote in my April posting (Coalition Cuts Are\u00c2\u00a0Weapons Of Mass Destruction)\u00c2\u00a0that “we can bet our bottom dollar that private ambulance companies are about to have a massive\u00c2\u00a0 recruitment drive. There is a \u00c2\u00a353 million bait dangling in front of their salivating faces.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This was in response to the shocking news that the Chancellor, via the Comprehensive Spending Review<\/em>, via NHS London, had ordered \u00c2\u00a353 million to be withdrawn from the funding of our Service over five years. \u00c2\u00a310 million a year!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I also stated that “London will be a less safe place to be ill or injured if all of these cuts go ahead, no matter how much we tinker around with alternative responses.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Private ambulance companies form part of this alternative response.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The chickens are coming home to roost!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We should\u00c2\u00a0not blame the London Ambulance Service (LAS)\u00c2\u00a0for this.\u00c2\u00a0We should\u00c2\u00a0not blame\u00c2\u00a0any particular\u00c2\u00a0management for this either.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are they to do?\u00c2\u00a0It is their\u00c2\u00a0job\u00c2\u00a0to run a Service. The Coalition government has given us Catch 22.<\/strong><\/p>\n

All that said though, it has to be barmy, on the one hand, to be taking vast amounts of money, and jobs,\u00c2\u00a0away from a vital public service, while, on the other hand, spending large amounts of public money paying private ambulance companies to fill in the gaps that have been left because vast amounts of money, and jobs, have been taken away from a vital public service!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dizzy chickens are coming home to roost!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t like private ambulance companies but I can’t blame them either. They are\u00c2\u00a0formed to make profits. That is what they do. That is the point of them and they know, only too well,\u00c2\u00a0that this breed of dizzy\u00c2\u00a0chicken will lay lovely\u00c2\u00a0golden eggs!<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I don’t blame the LAS. I don’t blame\u00c2\u00a0particular management.\u00c2\u00a0 We all should understand who the real enemy is. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The blame lies squarely with the Coalition government and their anti-public service policies. The blame lies with those who think ‘Private good – Public bad’. The blame lies with those who look the other way while a decent ambulance service is overwhelmed and set up to fail. <\/strong>\u00c2\u00a353 million cut from the budget over five years. 980 posts to go. That speaks for itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It would help, however, if for once the LAS Trust Board could stand up as one and say that what is happening is wrong. Wrong for the Service, wrong for the patients, wrong for the staff!<\/strong><\/p>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

Information of all issues can be found elsewhere on our website.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

If you are reading this, work for the London Ambulance Service or are eligible to join, and are not yet a member of UNISON Join Today!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>I Am Frontline You Are Frontline We Are All Frontline<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

We are stronger together.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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

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

Question: Is there a link between an increase in the use of private ambulance companies within the London Ambulance Service\u00c2\u00a0and the jobs\/ posts that are being left vacant or going all together? Answer: Not half there is!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-937","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\/937","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=937"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions\/952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}