Unison reps have been listening to a growing number of concerns from our members regarding the length of time they are expected to remain on area cover at unsocial standby points. These concerns were brought to the Unison Branch Executive meeting in Taunton on 11th December.

Unsocial standby points are places where ambulances are sent to provide cover, which have no provided facilities such as toilets or comfortable seating areas.

Unison contacted chief executive Ken Wenman about this issue. He was open to positive discussion on the matter, and as a result an agreement was quickly reached - that staff would not be forced to remain be at unsocial standby points for longer than 60 minutes at a time. Details of the agreement were outlined in the recent trust bulletin.