{"id":11953,"date":"2017-03-31T12:55:07","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T11:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11953"},"modified":"2017-03-31T12:55:07","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T11:55:07","slug":"unite-says-no-nurse-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11953","title":{"rendered":"Unite says no to nurse cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Standing in support of families with babies and young children, the local York community joined Unite members in a demonstration yesterday (March 30) against proposals by the city council to axe community nurses by about 16 per cent.<\/p>\n

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The plans to slash health visitors and school nurses could see up to 10 full-time equivalent jobs at risk, which would hit young families, especially the most vulnerable, the hardest.<\/p>\n

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Unite regional officer Mark Fieldhouse hailed last night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demonstration, noting that it was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bvery well attended.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe had scores of people out and had the full backing of four councillors who joined us and gave speeches,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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Fieldhouse said that after talks with the employer yesterday (March 30) he was optimistic.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe managed to extend the consultation period until the end of April, which gives us more time,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTalks so far have been good \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve managed to turn something negative into something I believe will have positive results.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

\"Mark

Mark Fieldhouse, Unite regional Officer, addresses Health Visitors and School nurses in York demonstration outside the council offices in York<\/p><\/div>\n

Fieldhouse (pictured above) explained exactly what was at stake \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not just in York but across the nation, after responsibility for community nurses was transferred from the NHS to local authorities, which face massive funding cuts from central government.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has said that local government is the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098forgotten cousin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 when it comes to funding from Whitehall \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see why the public health agenda underpinned by health visitors and school nurses should be sacrificed on the altar of\u00c2\u00a0 cuts imposed by a Tory government,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNationally, since 2010, local government has faced the brunt of the cuts to public spending with 37 per cent cut from the local government budget between 2010 and 2015, with a further 56 per cent due to be axed by 2019\/20.<\/p>\n

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Fieldhouse noted that in York, a major problem is that the city council seems unsure of the true extent of its community nurse workforce.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe understand that up to 10 full-time equivalent jobs could be at risk, but we are pressing the council hard as to exactly what its plans are and the numbers of jobs under threat,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat families with young children are facing is no role for school nurses, removing the link between health and education,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHealth promotion focusing on sex education, and smoking and drug abuse will be much diminished.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe infant feeding co-ordinator role is disappearing, leaving no support for mothers struggling with breastfeeding.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo top it all, the already hard-pressed community nurses face having their pay and employment conditions much reduced by moves to put them on City of York Council salary scales, when we believe that staff should remain on NHS terms and conditions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Fieldhouse urged the people of York, who believe in a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bvibrant and progressive \u00e2\u20ac\u0098healthy child service\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to pledge their support as the fight to save community nursing goes on.<\/p>\n

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Stay tuned on UNITElive for updates as talks with York City Council continue.<\/p>\n

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

Standing in support of families with babies and young children, the local York community joined Unite members in a demonstration yesterday (March 30) against proposals by the city council to axe community nurses by about 16 per cent.   The plans to slash health visitors and school nurses could see up to 10 full-time equivalent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[77,571],"wps_subtitle":"Community nurses under threat","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11954,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11953\/revisions\/11954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}