UNISON has also spoken out on the announcement of a new partnership by Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.
The Examiner exclusively revealed this week that Huddersfield’s hospital trust was to go into partnership with the East Lancashire NHS Hospital Trust.
Both say the move is not a merger, but will allow them to share “back office functions” via the creation of a new health care group.
Since September in 2009 Calderdale and Huddersfield’s chief executive Diane Whittingham has been splitting her time between the two sites.
Unison’s Huddersfield health secretary Paul Cooney said: “We have to see the details but we are concerned that there has been no prior consultation with the staff side.
“Also, the sharing of back office functions could impact on a lot of non-clinical front line jobs”.
“There are implications for the workforce. We have always said that in the NHS everyone is front line.
“Without the supplies department bringing in equipment nothing happens. How would the hospital run without the laundry service? All of these jobs have to be protected.”
At a meeting of the trust’s membership council on Tuesday finance director Mark Brearley said he did not anticipate any redundancies. He stressed it was not a merger and that working together would not take away the individual trusts’ accountability.
