Union vows to fightany care home cutson equality grounds

Protesters setting off on a recent march from Rectory Field to the Guildhall Square to highlight their opposition to the closure of care homes INLS2413-166KM

A TRADE union has vowed to challenge any future cuts to residential care - including at Rectory Field and William Street - on equality grounds after a picket in Londonderry on Thursday (September 12).

Unison’s Patricia McKeown called on local health Trusts not to publish any further proposals until March 2014 at least to allow a proper consultation to take place.

In a statement released after Unison picketed a Health Social Care Board (HSCB) meeting on Thursday she said. “We are demanding an explanation as to how core proposals and most particularly extensive cuts, closure and privatisation proposals which will have a detrimental effect on the most vulnerable groups in our society have been excluded from Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) at all levels of the Health Service.”