{"id":20347,"date":"2020-04-01T16:11:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T15:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=20347"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:44:27","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:44:27","slug":"govt-cuts-causing-ppe-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=20347","title":{"rendered":"Govt cuts causing PPE delays"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cost cutting measures imposed by government on NHS procurement need to be reversed because they are causing delays in the supply of personal protection equipment (PPE) to hospitals due to understaffing, Unite said today (Wednesday 1 April).<\/p>\n

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Unite said warehouses run by Unipart \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is contracted on behalf of NHS supply company Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SCCL) to provide general health service equipment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are \u00e2\u20ac\u0098struggling to keep up with demand\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and that staff are ‘exhausted’.<\/p>\n

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SCCL, which is wholly owned by the secretary of state for health and social care, supplies a range of non-specialised equipment and supplies, including PPE items such as hand sanitiser, face masks and gloves, to NHS trusts nationwide.<\/p>\n

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The union said army personnel are now working in warehouses run by Unipart for SCCL, which has been mandated to save the NHS \u00c2\u01412.4 billion by 2022\/23 through the unification of health service procurement, so that orders can be fulfilled more quickly.<\/p>\n

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Unipart is contracted to run warehouses in Alfreton, Bridgewater, Maidstone, Normanton, Rugby, Runcorn and Bury, as well as the delivery network, on behalf of SCCL. Unite represents around 150 drivers at Unipart, as well as a number of warehouse staff at all of SCCL\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s warehouses.<\/p>\n

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Unite regional officer Phil Silkstone said: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSCCL warehouses contracted out to Unipart are struggling to keep up with demand.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBecause of a shortage of workers, our members are working flat out to ensure supplies to hospitals across the country are being replenished and the British Army has been brought onboard to assist.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe situation needs to be resolved as soon as possible so that vital supplies get where they need to be on time and exhausted warehouse staff can return to working sustainable hours.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThough SCCL, Unipart has been tasked with helping to save the NHS \u00c2\u01412.4 billion by 2022\/23. These government imposed cuts must now be reversed, and spending directed to making sure that staffing levels are adequate enough to ensure staff are rested and can work safely and so that deliveries are provided on time.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe reiterate that Unite members who are drivers and warehouse staff for Unipart are bravely working flat out to ensure hospitals are supplied with what they need during this crisis.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cost cutting measures imposed by government on NHS procurement need to be reversed because they are causing delays in the supply of personal protection equipment (PPE) to hospitals due to understaffing, Unite said today (Wednesday 1 April). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308],"tags":[1295,29,75],"wps_subtitle":"Government cuts to NHS supply chain causing hospital PPE delays and must be reversed","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20347"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20347"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24605,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20347\/revisions\/24605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}