Unite mobilises to maintain children’s services at North Yorkshire
hospital
26 January 2012
Unite, the largest union in the country, is backing the campaign
to keep the maternity and children’s services at ‘a sustainable
level’ at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, North
Yorkshire.
The future of the paediatric services, which serve a rural
population of 120,000, are currently under review after senior
doctors raised concerns about the long-term viability of some of
the services.
The preferred option favoured by the South Tees Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust for the future of paediatrics is to close all
in-patient services, but enhance the emergency and routine
outpatient services, increased specialist clinics, and
see-and-treat facilities.
Unite regional officer Martin Wright said: ”Unite wants to work
with the trust to ensure a viable and sustainable future not just
for children’s services, but for the whole hospital which serves a
population covering a 1,000 square miles.
”We also want to work with the local community to mobilise support
for the hospital at the start of this 12-month consultation
process.
”About 1,100 staff work at the hospital, which makes it one of the
area’s biggest employers – and we will do our best to ensure that
any reorganisation does not lead to job losses.”
The paediatric service at Friarage has about 1,200 acute admissions
a year and 7,000 children attending the A&E unit. There are
about 1,200 births annually.
Unite represents pathology staff, pharmacists, estate workers, and
speech and language therapists at the hospital, as well as those
working in community such as health visitors and community nursery
nurses.
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
For further information please contact, Martin Wright on 07768 931
242 and/or Unite communications officer Shaun Noble on 07768 693
940
