Yorkshire NHS trust drops subsidiary plan
Industrial action by members of the public services union UNISON has been called off in what is the latest success in its campaign against the creation NHS trust subsidiaries.
A three-day strike at the Mid Yorkshire NHS Hospitals Trust was called off after the trust’s management lifted the threat of creating a wholly-owned subsidiary.
The trust had intended to set up the company and transfer the contracts of cleaners, maintenance workers, IT staff and canteen staff to it. The subsidiary could have then been sold to a private company.
However, trust director Mark Braden confirmed with UNISON reps that the trust has stopped all work, on forming a wholly-owned subsidiary, with an agreed short statement clarifying that this was for “both now and in the future”.
Branch secretary Adrian O’Malley said that the hospital trust knew that “the strike was going to be solid” after experiencing a tough reception at staff meetings.
Earlier in August, UNISON members at the University Hospitals of Leicester were celebrating after being told that they won’t be transferred to a wholly owned subsidiary company.
The proposal in Leicester would have seen members who currently provide services in-house being transferred to a separate company (subco).
Dave Prentis, general secretary of UNISON, said that subcos were the “slippery slope towards backdoor privatisation”.
www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2018/08/another-subco-stopped-started