nursing home - stay of execution
WORKERS, APRIL 2004 ISSUE
THE UNISON campaign to keep the St. Andrews Nurses' Home in Newham, London, open (see February WORKERS) has resulted in a partial stay of execution. The home will remain open for a further three months, the nurses will not be evicted during their exams and staff will be relocated.
The closure is linked to PFI proposals for the local hospital. Figures unearthed by UNISON indicate that the real 'saving' arising from closure will not be the £500,000 claimed by the Trust but more likely to be less than £10,000. If the PFI contractors do not intend starting work on the site until around 2006, what is the obscene rush for closure? Evicting 24 student nurses seems small fry in this issue.