BETTER FACILITIES PLANNED AT NEW WOMENS AND CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

UNISON has been in negotiations with Belfast Trust management on the new Women and Children’s Hospital and the planned phased opening over the next two years. It came to our attention that PCSS management, namely catering, were planning to close all hot food facilities at the weekends.

UNISON RVH branch responded by raising challenges on two fronts -

• The impact on our members and their current weekend working patterns;

• The impact on service users and staff not having hot food available at the weekends.

Management leads were resistant to accommodate our challenges so UNISON RVH branch sprang into action. A Facebook page was launched inviting feedback from staff and the public.

UNISON co-chair of the Inez Mc Cormack RVH Women’s Committee Margaret McKee met with management to deliver a message that our demand for changes to their plan had received widespread support.  Management have now agreed to pilot provision of hot food at weekends, with agreement on staffing levels and protection of members pay at weekends.