nursing

UNISON, the UK

Using the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to develop six new hospital sites, will prove a costly error, warned UNISON, the UK’s largest union today.

Nursing and other staff in NHS Direct are pressuring for industrial action over the organisation’s restructuring exercise which includes the threat of compulsory redundancies. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and UNISON have submitted evidence to NHS Direct which is highly critical of its proposed actions. NHS Direct is not in deficit, but has to save £15 million from its budget.

UNISON, the UK

UNISON, the UK’s largest health union, today called on the Government to come clean and reveal the findings of the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB), which recommends pay awards for the country’s nurses, midwives, paramedics and other health professionals.

Commenting on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) election results Gail Adams UNISON Head of Nursing, said:

UNISON

The number of newly qualified nurses and midwives with debts of over £10,000 has more than doubled in 2 years according to a joint survey conducted by UNISON, the UKÕs largest health union, and Nursing Times, the best selling nursing weekly. In 2003 6% of students had debts of £10,000 or more but today a new survey of 2,000 nursing students revealed that figure has risen to 14% for newly qualified nurses.