Convenors & Stewards in the South CBU continue to support members at Disciplinaries, Appeals, Clinical Case Reviews, Fact Finds, Long Term Sickness meetings, Issue Resolutions and Flexible Working Meetings. We encourage all members to make early contact with their local stewards and convenors for support at these meetings.
After the recent security incident at Longley station, the Branch contacted the South Senior Leadership team to request a station meeting with staff. This has been arranged for the 9th of July 2025 at 3pm and we would encourage as many members as possible to attend to express your concerns and give firsthand experiences.
Our next South Area Unison Stewards meeting is Thursday the 17th of July and all South CBU stewards are encouraged to attend to discuss local issues so that we can take these to the Trust. Please speak to your local stewards with any issues you would like them to raise.
The 45-minute transfer of care has recently been rolled out at Sheffield Northern General Hospital and will be rolled out across other South CBU areas shortly – we encourage all members to contact local stewards and convenors with any feedback.
For a number of years PTS in the South CBU have raised the case for a return to local YAS facilities in order to take their allotted meal breaks; certainly, when operating locally to the area. Due to the consistent work of our South Stewards, with support from local Convenors, an initial Issue Resolution on behalf of our PTS members resulted in partial agreement with the PTS South Op’s Manager on a number of points.
On appeal, at a convivial meeting between PTS Senior Management and the Unison South team, a series of points were raised and discussed between both sides. To give some context, Management explained the historical background to the issue and the current sensitive contract/commercial situation, alongside unsustainability of costs involved in unproductive milage. Recently competitors in Lincolnshire and the South West have challenged the NHS Commissioners over procurement and value for money criteria.
Discussion evolved around the introduction/sharing of 5* A&E standby points in the South. With mutual agreement, and if financially viable, this could be a step in the right direction to resolving the issue of crews being forced to take their breaks in unsuitable hospital areas.
Discussion also took place around PTS members being able to view their meal break windows on their PDAs with unanimous agreement that this would be mutually beneficial to both crews and dispatchers. An action to develop this with Cleric software or consider in-house was agreed.
Given the historical contentious situation over PTS meal breaks, and although management, as is their right, have retired to consider all options, we feel that this is a major step forward in improving joint engagement and front-line input into how services are delivered. This has only been achieved due to the tenacity of our group of South PTS stewards with the support of the South Convenors team.