Published: 09 May 2008
Even More Bean Counters
As Bridlington residents plan to demonstrate to save their hospital on 26 July, the controversy over the NHS trust’s recruitment drive for more finance staff took a new twist.
Unite the Union and Save Bridlington Hospital Campaign Action Group will be holding a demonstration in the town on Saturday, 26 July to protest at proposals by Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust to close the cardiac monitoring unit and two acute medical wards at Bridlington Hospital.
Last month, Unite revealed the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ situation of the trust advertising for 12 new staff for its finance team with an annual salary bill of more than £350k+, despite the trust imposing a recruitment freeze since last November.
However, this figure is an underestimate as some of the job categories advertised were for more than one new employee.
The total figure is now 17 jobs with a prospective annual wage bill of £450,000 – a 25% increase in costs than first realised.
Unite Head of Health Kevin Coyne said:
“Unite can’t be accused of scare tactics as we originally underestimated the numbers and costs involved in this finance staff recruitment bonanza.’
Hopefully, this new revelation will give local residents an extra spur to turn out in even larger numbers on 26 July, so that the trust’s senior managers release the depth of anger being felt in North East Yorkshire over their plans”.
In March, more than 37,000 local people signed a petition, handed in at Downing Street last month, protesting at the proposed cuts at the hospital.
Unite fears - that if the closures are allowed to go ahead - patients’ lives could be put at risk if they have to travel the 22 miles to Scarborough hospital for emergency treatment and it is also concerned that Bridlington is isolated in terms of first-class transport links, which could exacerbate travel problems for emergency patients.
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