NHS and council staff to strike over new care model

Full story in the HSJ, 18 April 2018

Staff affected by a vanguard new care model in Greater Manchester have voted to strike over the changes later this month.

Unison, which represents 230 council and NHS staff involved in the Stockport Together vanguard, said the decision follows seven months of negotiations. The industrial action will take place on 27 April. The union said 96 per cent of respondents to the ballot voted to strike.

HSJ revealed staff’s concerns in January, which presented further difficulties for a project that has already been scaled back from initial plans to form a single accountable care organisation.The project partners – including Stockport Foundation Trust, Stockport Council and Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group – have instead focused on establishing integrated community teams working under an “alliance contract” between providers. The project has been allocated £23m of transformation funding over four years by national and regional leaders.