SSHA  are delighted to announce that our website has successfully passed the NHS Quality Assurance checklist. This means that a link to our site may be included in the relevant sections of www.nhsinform.co.uk, and may also be utilised by NHS 24’s Health Information Advisors when referring the public to further sources of information over the phone.

“NHS inform

We provide access to trustworthy information that can help you in many different ways. We can give you information on medical conditions, answer common health questions and keep you up to date with all the latest health-related news items. We also have lots of information on specific health and welfare topics from living with diabetes or asthma, to finding out how to register with a GP. We hold links to local information across Scotland, such as support groups in your area, and details of your rights when it comes to your health.

Please note that the subscription rates to SSHA/Unite were increased from 1st September 2011

• If you pay by direct debit the change will have been automatic.
• If you pay by check-off (via your payroll) you will need to advise your employer.
• If you pay by cheque, please ensure that you do not lapse your membership.
• Please note that, as ever, your PLI cover is included in the subscriptions.

Details of contributions in the Irish Republic may be found on the Unite web site.

SSHA members are encouraged to pay subscriptions by direct debit.

Unite has tried to negotiate a fair settlement with government but they refuse to hear workers’ concerns.

The proposals threaten public sector pensions by:

• lower pension increases more >
• higher contributions more >
• lower quality benefits more >
• ending final salary pensions more >
• raising pension age more >
• no protection if you are contracted-out more >
• imposition not negotiation more >

Your future is at stake.

Campaign materials

Unite has produced a number of campaign leaflets for all the different sectors that are involved in the dispute. You can download these leaflets for your particular sector here: Civil Service -The NHS - Schools and Further and Education - Police Staff - Admitted Staff - Local Government / Local Government members working in Scotland

In addition, Unite has also produced a number of materials for the campaign. You can download copies here or if you require multiple copies of any of the materials you can get these from your regional office.

Leaflet which explains why you must get ready to vote

Briefing and timeline document

Political campaign leaflet

Campaign poster

I am writing to draw your attention to the publication of CHRE’s annual performance review of the health professional regulators. The Performance Review 2010/2011; changing regulation in changing times was laid before Parliament, along with our Annual Report and Accounts on 29th June.

The Performance Review report (and summary document) can be found at www.chre.org.uk/satellite/402 and the Annual Report and Accounts can be found at www.chre.org.uk/about/290/

The Performance Review evaluates the performance of the nine health professional regulators in the four key areas of statutory responsibility – guidance and standards, education and training, registration, and fitness to practise. This performance review has identified that most of the regulators are performing well across their regulatory functions. It has also identified some areas of concern in relation to the performance of some of the regulators – those regulators are already taking action to address those areas of concern.

We highlight in the review some areas where we are looking for the regulators to improve their performance, including the way in which some of them deal with drink-drive /drug-related convictions, as well as their processes for investigating complaints about themselves.

In this year’s review we also draw attention to the impact of the proposed changes to the NHS in England on matters of patient safety and professional conduct which will require a regulatory response. We make recommendations to the regulators and to the departments of health across the UK. 

In line with government requirements, the reports are only available electronically. They are also available in Welsh.

Kind regards,

Emma Kelly-Dempster
Good Practice Officer

Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence
157-197 Buckingham Palace Road
London
SW1W 9SP

www.chre.org.uk

Switchboard: 020 7389 8030
Direct line: 020 7389 8019
Fax: 020 7389 8040

I am asked by colleagues to circulate the message below and ask you to click on the link and complete the survey.  This information is very important to us in our opposition to the proposed NHS reforms.

“Dear Friend,

Unite is not only the biggest union in the country leading the fight against the Government’s dangerous proposals for the NHS, we are also unique in representing such a wide breadth of professional organisations and occupations who work in the NHS. We want to make sure the voice of our professional and occupational groups is heard in the debate about what is happening to the NHS now.

Please answer a few short questions to tell us what is happening in your Sexual Health service,Counselling and Psychotherapy service  by clicking below -

The link for the survey is http://www.questback.com/unitetheunion/nhsapril2011

Many thanks,

Sally Kosky,

Unite Health Sector National Officer”

Many thanks for taking the time to do this.

With best wishes,

Carol English, Unite Health Sector.

The Unite 4 OUR NHS campaign has been launched  to oppose the cuts and privatisations in the NHS and fight to protect NHS workers terms and conditions and pensions.  Unite’s campaigning has had a huge impact locally and nationally in both halting and slowing down threatened NHS privatisations and we must continue to support our activists in their local campaigns fighting the break-up and fragmentation of our NHS.

We want a reversal of the damaging competitive market that exists in England, that pits health services against one another – instead in the forthcoming White Paper we are threatened with the disbanding of Strategic Health Authorities and the bulk of the NHS budget being handed over to private companies to spend and profit from through ‘GP commissioning’. Even the NHS Confederation has described this as “potentially the biggest change in the history of the NHS”.

Unite believes that the NHS should be a comprehensive, universal service  publically funded and accountable and managed as a public service for the benefit of all. This world class organisation should not be carved up for the benefit of private profit and now is the time for us to fight for our National Health Service, to ensure that it will be there for future generations.

Join our campaign and send the message loud and clear to the government – Don’t destroy our NHS!

Please take one minute to send a letter or an email to your MP, telling them why you are opposed to the White Paper and why they should be too, as these changes will mean:

• More wasteful bureaucracy – not less
• Less money for treating patients
• More money into the profits of private healthcare companies
• More inequity of a postcode lottery on healthcare services 

Just visit http://unite.newsweaver.co.uk/uk/sd4ajuc3s87tn6uxnscltd– you can send an email directly from this link using the bullet points above.
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The Unite 4 Our NHS campaign has been launched to oppose the cuts and privatisations in the NHS and fight to protect NHS workers terms and conditions and pensions.

Join us today by getting on our Unite 4 our NHS map, showing NHS supporters around the country who want to defend our NHS