Mick Pilling (writes).....As reported by Mick Pilling (Chairman)
Save Bridlington Hospital Campaign Action Group

These Car park charges cannot be tolerated; staff are on a complete overtime ban and have been so for many month; there is no-way they can earn the money to pay extra costs such as these car-park-charges rated @ £240.00 per year full-time & £120.00 part-time; this is money grabbing by stealth to help the Scarborough NHS Trust out of there financial debt of some £7.4m......shame on the Trust who cannot be Trusted.  Sfaff would need to earn in excess of £300.00 extra per year to pay this kind of extra charge..The Save Bridlington Hospital Campaign Action Group is fundamentally opposed to these charges and will do anything to help!

Please Read: AMICUS the UNION's Anger.....

Amicus, the health trade union, is angered by Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust's latest proposal to charge low paid staff members at Bridlington and District Hospital £240 and some staff £600 to park their cars at work.

Amicus say that the plans to charge employees, some of who are employed on a minimum wage, is unacceptable and will cause even lower morale among staff who are already fighting proposals by the Trust to demote Bridlington Hospital to community hospital status.

The union has argued that, as well as costing jobs, the downgrading of Bridlington will cost lives as patients needing emergency treatment will have to travel a minimum of 22 miles to Scarborough hospital.

Amicus' Regional Officer, Terry Cunliffe, said: “On top of the changes planned for the hospital, which will undoubtedly include redundancies, staff are now being told they may have to pay for the privilege of working at Bridlington hospital!

“Amicus is fundamentally opposed to these charges.No one working in the NHS can afford to pay to park at their place of work and up to 120 members of staff are already struggling to survive earning just the minimum wage."

The union has called the public meeting called by the Trust last night to discuss the plans to downgrade the public hospital "a farce". The union says up to 100 members of the public were turned away from the event because the venue was too small and the microphone and Powerpoint equipment, by which the Trust were meant to make their proposals, were not working. At this meeting the Trust were also meant to provide staff and members of the public consultation papers and questionnaires but failed to do so.

Amicus will be registering its opposition to both sets of proposals via the consultation process.

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For more information contact Terry Cunliffe on 07776 202007 or Ashraf Choudhury in the Amicus press office on 020 7420 8914 or 07980 224 761