Unison Calls For Good Leadership To Save Stagnant Trust, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 09 Feb 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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As the future of Bedfordshire and Luton Mental Health and Social Care Partnership hangs in the balance, UNISON has made an urgent call for "good leadership and management" to turn the Trust around.

The UK's largest public sector union believe that patients and staff suffer have suffered because of the Trust's drawn-out attempt to obtain Foundation Trust status, at the expense of sorting out the Trust's financial problems.

The chair and non-executive team have now stood down to make way for a Foundation Trust takeover.' which UNISON says will lead to a worse service for local mental health users. In addition, the union points out that, the candidates currently under consideration will fail to turn-around the Trust, because they either have no experience in mental health, or are because based out of the county.

Karen Jennings, UNISON's Head of Health, said:

"Bedfordshire and Luton Mental Health and Social Care Partnership has suffered because the management have focused their attention on obtaining Foundation Trust status for too long.

"Time and attention now needs to be focused on the patients and staff, who are worried about the future of mental health care locally.

"The Trust needs good leadership and management instead of a takeover by a Foundation Trust. Mental health services are often the poor relation and the Trust is in real danger of getting swallowed up by the Acute Trust in Bedford, which no experience of mental health, or by a Trust miles away, in the case of the Essex based Hertfordshire Partnership.

"It would be best for patients and staff to leave the Trust in local hands, bring in quality management and leadership and allow them to get on with the job of delivering a quality service."

UNISON

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