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Staff strike out at suspension

Helen Clifton
31/ 8/2007

MENTAL health staff picketed Wythenshawe Hospital on Wednesday as part of a Greater Manchester-wide three-day walkout in protest at the suspension of a psychiatric nurse and Unison official.

More than 90 per cent of Unison members balloted on the strike voted to walk out from 7am on Wednesday until midnight. The action culminated in a rally in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester.

Pickets were also held at North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary and the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust headquarters in Chorlton.

Unison regional officer Andy Gill said: “The Trust should take this as an indication of just how angry our members are. We demand they reverse the suspension of our branch chair.”

The strike was organised in protest at the suspension of Unison official Karen Reissmann, an outspoken critic of staff cuts and the transfer of NHS services to the private and voluntary sector.

The proposals – called Change in Mind – have been branded unsafe and unworkable by nurses.

Ten weeks ago Trust bosses charged Ms Reissmann with bringing the organisation into disrepute. She is accused of behaviour undermining their confidence in her as an employee and misusing her time as a community psychiatric nurse.

On Tuesday, Trust bosses opted to close three wards at the Park House unit at North Manchester General and moved 36 mentally ill patients by bus and cab to private facilities as far away as county Durham. A further 32 were sent home after being clinically assessed.

But patients at Wythenshawe’s 11-bed inpatient unit at Laureate House, some of whom are suffering from post-natal depression, were unaffected by the move.

The strike is expected to have more impact at North Manchester as this is where Ms Reissmann was based. The remaining 13 of the Trust’s 17 wards were operational.

In the event of a strike, staff the Trust deems essential donate a day’s wages to the union instead of taking part.

But in this case, negotiations broke down.

Unison’s head of health, Stephanie Thomas, said: “Because of the action by the Trust to move patients, we have had a deluge of applications to join Unison. To move patients to a private hospital when we have provided back-up is just diabolical.

“They just want to blame us. Patients come first, second and last.”

On Wednesday, Trust chief executive Sheila Foley said: “The care and safety of our service users and patients is our priority during this period of industrial action by Unison. During our visits around the Trust today, we observed that patients were being well cared for and are extremely grateful for the hard work and dedication of staff under challenging circumstances.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and respond and change arrangements if necessary.”

The Trust was recently ranked as providing the third worst community psychiatric care in Britain by a health watchdog, and is in special financial measures to tackle a predicted £2.5m debt.

CLICK on the video link to see Channel M's interview with Karen Reissman