 | Herts Community Healthcare Branch |
Saturday 04 September 2010
Branch News22nd Aug 2010: Personal Development Plans DEAR COLLEAGUES, WE ARE WRITING TO OUR MEMBERSHIP WITH REGARD TO PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS, ALSO KNOWN AS PDP`S. ALL NHS STAFF SHOULD BE APPRAISED AND HAVE A PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN.IT IS THE REPONSABILITY OF THE LINE MANAGER TO ENSURE THAT THIS OCCURS AND THAT IT IS UPDATED AT LEAST YEARLY. YOUR PDP SHOULD BE A PERSONAL PORTFOLIO AND BE BASED AROUND THE PRINICPLES BELOW: Responsibilities The line manager
The employee
Shared
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT UNISON MEMBERS ARE AWARE THAT THE PDP CAN ALSO BE USED TO DEMONSTATE CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY TO DO THE JOB THROUGH PERFORMANCE. STAFF PRESENTLY WHO MAY BE UNDER REVIEW THROUGH CAPABILITY OR PERFORMANCE SHOULD BE AWARE THAT YOU SHOULD BE SUPPORTED TO ACHIEVE THE STANDARDS REQUIRED IN THE CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WHEN TRAINING OR MENTORING IS REQUIRED, THIS SHOULD BE PROVIDED. THERE SHOULD BE NO SURPRISES. IF YOU PRESENTLY HAVE ANY CONCERNS IN RELATION TO THE ABOVE, WE WOULD ADVISE YOU THAT YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEND ANY MEETING WITHOUT FIRST INFORMING THE UNISON OFFICE. NO ONE CAN DEMAND THAT YOU GIVE ANY STATEMENT WITHOUT FIRST HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK WITH A UNISON REPRESENTATIVE. IF YOU REQUIRE A UNISON OFFICIAL TO ATTEND ANY MEETING THEN THIS NEEDS TO BE ARRANGED WITH ADVANCE NOTICE. THE OFFICE WISHES TO SUPPORT ITS MEMBERS AND OFFERS THIS ADVICE ON AN ADVISORY BASIS.
16th Aug 2010: NHS Campaign update: sign the e-petition Our treasured NHS is under threat. Sign the e-petition.
27th July 2010: A message from your Regional Secretary ... CALL FOR MEMBERS TO TAKE ACTION NOW We all recognise the vital work that our members do. Members such as Nurses, social workers, midwives, police support staff, environmental officers, staff delivering education to our children, those working in community services such as charities and voluntary organisations, park keepers, rubbish collectors are all working to ensure the public get quality & essential services. This Government, through its emergency budget this week, has declared war on all those vital services and on all those that deliver them. Pay freezes, job losses and massive cuts to public sector spending will do nothing to protect the services that YOU, our members deliver. Add to the mix increases in VAT, increase in retirement age [for those that are lucky enough to have a job], increases in unemployment, high inflation and we have just a recipe for complete disaster. It is now, more than ever, that we need to stand together to ensure that this Government knows that we will fight for our services, for our children's future, for our families, for our communities and for a quality of life. We need YOU, our members, to work with YOUR union to campaign against these draconian cuts and organise in your workplace to ensure that UNISON's voice is heard loud and clear. It is only by working together, standing strong together and doing what ever it takes to let this Government know that what they are doing is wrong - that it won't work and what's more we will not just sit back and do nothing. Your local UNISON Branch will be looking to hear from you about cuts in your area, the impact it has on local communities, on individuals who use the services that you deliver, as well as the impact on you and your work colleagues. I urge you to contact them and let your Branch know what is going on in your workplace and also to ask what you can do to help. We need you to talk to your non-union work colleagues to get them to join in the fight to save services, get them to sign up to become a union member and add their voice to the growing 1.3 million strong membership. We need YOU and your families to talk to the local community groups that you are involved with [church, volunteer groups, community centre, sports clubs etc] - let them know what is happening to the service that you deliver and ask them to sign up to the UNISON Million Voices Campaign and to participate in any UNISON organised community activities . Over the coming months I'm sure there will be lots of activities against service cuts and job losses organised at a Branch, Regional and National level that you will be asked to get involved in. I urge YOU to get active, get involved and do whatever you can to ensure that the voice of UNISON isn't just a whisper, but is one that is heard very loudly and very clearly in the corridors of power. Remember united we stand, but divided we will definitely fall....Take action now! GREG GRANT REGIONAL SECRETARY - June 2010
8th April 2010: NHS is not for sale says UNISON UNISON, the UK's largest public service union, is today (8 April) warning that the real winners behind Conservative plans to cut NHS funding, will be their friends in big business. Tory plans to scrap the increase in National Insurance piles pressure on the NHS and other public services, who will pay the price with swingeing cut backs. Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said: "Cameron is relying on the 'efficiency savings' identified by Sir Peter Gershon but these have more than a whiff of self interest. It seems that General Healthcare Group, chaired by Gershon, are already counting the money that they will make through lucrative contracts, if the Tories get their hands on the NHS." "The NHS is not for sale and we cannot afford to waste precious public money bumping up the balance sheets of big business. When Labour came to power, they inherited a health service on its knees with long waiting lists, crumbling hospitals and demoralised staff. If you had the money you could turn to the private health providers who used the fear of those long queues to peddle their policies. Everyone else was left at the back of the queue."
24th March 2010: Eastern OT Forum Update Hello all, Here is some information for you all following the forum I attended 24.03.10. There were very informative/enlightening discussions taking place through the day. I am sad to report that right across our Eastern region, OT's both within Health and local government are ALL going through some very hard times some examples:
Again this forum has been valuable for networking, and reassuring that we have good leadership from Unison within the Eastern Branch. I feel it is more important than ever to encourage all members to keep in touch with what is going on locally and regionally. Unison is all about the members, and for it to continue to be as effective as possible the members must keep sharing their voice. It's about being proactive, not reactive. I'd like to remind staff to look at the Unison Eastern Region website, and let staff know that our own branch (Hertfordshire Community Health Care Branch) also has a website for its members, which we will be working on over the next coming months. Kind Regards Lucy Roper Occupational Therapist Discharge Coordinator Acute Occupational Therapy Service Lister Hospital and Unison Representative. |
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