Campaigns
Positively Public Briefings
Monthly briefings providing the latest campaigning, privatisation and good practice news. Link to another page on this siteAvailable here
National news

UNISON welcomes assurances over NHS reform

(09/05/08) Government pledges staff and patients will be the driving force for change

For safety’s sake

(08/05/08) Meat inspection to remain in public control

Everyday heroes

(06/05/08) Say ‘thank you’ to the special people who care for the UK’s sick children

Food for good

(01/05/08) UNISON calls for school (and hospital) meals to be sourced locally
News list >

Drive for change

Organisations across the private and public sectors at some time all face the need for change, improving the way services are delivered and products produced. A key factor in any successful change programme is a commitment to engaging and involving the workforce. Trade union engagement can give employees the assurance that changes are for the benefit of the service and the workforce. They also give employees a voice that is often necessary to bring about the cultural changes essential to service improvement.

Documents & Links
Audit of trade union and staff engagement in reform
Link to an Acrobat PDF Acrobat [PDF]
The Drive for Change
Link to a web page on this site www.driveforchange.org.uk
The Drive for Change www.driveforchange.org.uk project is sponsored by the Public Services Forum, which brings together Government, public service trade union leaders and employers to work jointly on workforce issues that impact on public services. The Forum promotes more active involvement of trade unions and staff in service delivery and improvement. Active engagement between employees, employers and the public is crucial to bringing innovation and creativity to designing services for the future.

In 2004 the Forum commissioned a study to understand how public service organisations were doing in involving and engaging trade unions and staff in service improvement and change at a local level. This Audit of trade union and staff engagement in reform showcased examples of organisations that are involving the workforce to deliver change, where engagement is making a real difference to service delivery.

CONTACT DETAILS
• The UNISON contact for the Positively Public campaign is Margie Jaffe.
Positively Public
1 Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9AJ
Email: positivelypublic@unison.co.uk
Recent documents
Individual Budgets
The government has said that Individual Budgets should be available to anyone in receipt of social care services. This Fact Sheet explains how Individual Budgets currently work and identifies key concerns around support arrangements, likely costs, impact on services and workforce issues.
Link to a document on this siteIndividual Budgets (358400 bytes)
NHS @ 60
Document containing a mix of serious articles (including one by Dave Prentis), light-hearted features and potted histories to illustrate why it's essential that we continue to celebrate and defend the NHS as it turns 60
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Machines, markets and morals

This pamphlet from the think tank Compass calls on the government to end the marketisation of the NHS and instead allow staff and users to shape the service democratically.Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF (1709088 bytes)

PFI cost to the NHS
This study analyses the cost of using private finance to build the first 12 operational PFI hospitals by 2001-2002. It shows that PFI creates budget inflexibilities that increase pressures on the NHS to cut its largest cost: the jobs, working conditions and pay of staff, therefore impacting on the quality of healthcare services.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF (70277 bytes)
The UK Public Library Service - facing the challenges
This factsheet highlights the challenges the public library service faces and UNISON's campaign to defend the service, which is very popular and valued by local communities.
Link to a document on this siteLibrary factsheet (366592 bytes)
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