01633 262 881                        

To:  All Branches

Dear Colleagues

NHS National Blood Service Needs More Donors

In 2009, 2.1 million blood donations were collected from 1.6 million donors in England. While these may appear to be large figures, the reality is that it only represents 4% of the population and, in recent years, the number of active donors has fallen by around 6%.

In England, somewhere in the region of 8,000 blood transfusions are carried out every day. Therefore, the need for blood donations remains high.

As blood can only be safely stored for a relatively short period of time, hospital blood stocks need to be continuously refreshed. For example, red blood cells can only be stored for 35 days and platelets (the part of the blood that helps prevent excessive bleeding) can only be stored for five days.

In particular, blood donations are needed from black and Asian people because the current levels of black and Asian donors are very low. Certain ethnic groups often require certain blood types, so having a range of donations from a wide range of ethnic groups provides a more effective way of helping to meet the potential demand for blood.

In England and Wales, the blood donation process is overseen by the NHS National Blood and Transplant Service which relies on voluntary donations from the general public in order to keep the service running. Donating blood is a relatively quick procedure (it usually takes less than an hour), and it is virtually painless.

The websites of the National Blood Services provides more information about how you can volunteer to give blood, and some have an on-line form that allows you to book an appointment to donate blood in a location near to where you live or work.

·         NHS National Blood and Transplant Service 'Give Blood' Website - England & Wales: http://www.blood.co.uk/  - On-line Blood Donor session appointment form: http://www.blood.co.uk/SessionSearcher/Search.aspx 

·         "ScotBlood" - The NHS Scottish Blood and Transfusion Service: http://www.scotblood.co.uk/index.asp 

·         Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service: http://www.nibts.org/ 

Volunteer helpers also Needed

The service also needs help from people who would like to get involved, there are lots of things they can do to help, e.g.

·         Local Organiser Volunteers

·         Poster Contact Volunteers

·         Centre Based Volunteers

·         Student Rep Volunteers

·         Local Organiser Volunteers

If you're interested in being a;

Local Organiser Volunteer, Responsible for helping organise and promote the blood donor sessions in the local area. Become a day-to-day local area National Blood Service rep. Keep us up to date with events or developments. Encourage new donors and get existing donors to attend sessions.

Distribute posters and leaflets with local session details. Help out at donation sessions.

Poster Contact Volunteers, Involves putting posters or banners up in the local area prior to a blood donor session.

Centre Based Volunteer, Helping out at one of the many blood centres across the country. Assisting the team with various duties, answering queries, sending out posters, giving donors appointment times, writing to companies etc.

Recruiter, Enrolling new donors. Talking to people in the street or at their place of work. Appeals – Volunteers visit interested businesses to recruit donors for a company donor session. Campaigns - Volunteers support recruitment campaigns in a town centre or at a local event.

Student Rep Volunteer, Responsible for helping promote and organise a blood donor session at his or her University or College. Distributing posters, leaflets, information on session details.

Volunteers receive: All materials, Travel and other expenses.

Those interested in becoming a Volunteer should call us on 0300 123 23 23, or fill in the online Volunteer form at:  https://secure.blood.co.uk/g31help.asp

Footnote - NHSBT - Organ Donation - Register Now

If you believe in organ donation, prove it! Would you take an organ if you needed one? Nearly everyone would. But only 28% of us have joined the Organ Donor Register.

More than 10,000 people in the UK currently need a transplant. Of these, 1000 each year – that's three a day - will die waiting as there are not enough organs available.

Please help to turn people’s good intentions about organ donation into action by registering on the NHS Organ Donor Register at: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/RegistrationForm.do?campaignCode=-1

Yours Sincerely

Dave Joyce

National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

The National Blood Service - donating blood save lives!

To:  All Branches

Dear Colleagues

More than 10,000 people in the UK currently need a transplant. Of these, 1,000 each year will die waiting as there are not enough organs available.

The CWU Health, Safety & Environment department along with the TUC is supporting the NHS Organ Donation campaign.

The first organ donation campaign to run across the UK was launched in Autumn 2009. This campaign aimed to promote public awareness about organ donation and increase significantly the number of people on the NHS Organ Donor Register so that many more lives could be saved and transformed.

The need for organs is constant. Currently in the UK:

While 90% of people in the UK say they support organ donation, to date 27% have joined the the NHS Organ Donor Register. Would Branches and Representatives please show support for organ donation by joining and encouraging members to join the NHS Organ Donor Register and let those closest to them know their wishes about organ donation.

A catalogue of materials are available and you can order new materials to support the campaign. You can order A3 posters, English leaflets, English/Welsh leaflets, leaflet dispensers and promotional items, free of charge.

Help us spread the word

More than 16.4 million people have joined the NHS Organ Donor Register, but many more haven't yet got around to signing up. So, please, encourage people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register so that many more lives can be saved and transformed.

The campaign aims to:
 

We need your help

There are lots of different ways in which you can get involved and run a local Branch campaign. The NHS Organ Donor Register Campaign can supply free leaflets, posters and other resources and give you useful tips to make your campaign a success.

Please show your support for organ donation by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Further information is available at the following Link: Organ Donor.

Contact Details

Organ Donor Line: 0300 123 23 23 - Lines open 24 hours a day

Correspondence & Telephone Enquiries:

NHS Blood and Transplant
Organ Donation and Transplantation Directorate
Fox Den Road
Stoke Gifford
BRISTOL
BS34 8RR
Tel: 0117 975 7575
Fax: 0117 975 7577

Email contact details: enquiries@nhsbt.nhs.uk

See attached NHS Factsheets/leaflets:-

1. Organ Donation 'did you know'

2. Organ Donation 'the gift of life'

See Appendix 1 for a list of Publications Available from NHS Organ Donor Register - Please consider running a Branch or Regional Campaign!

Yours Sincerely

Dave Joyce

National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

To:  All Branches

Dear Colleagues

Work Related Stress - HSE Figures Show It Remains A Major Issue - HSE Guidance

The HSE once again is emphasising that stress is a major issue in workplaces and is directing health and safety professionals to examine its statistics on the issue, in order to ascertain the magnitude of the problem in the UK.

Some of the key points about stress in the UK recently published by the HSE:

·      In 2008/09, an estimated 415,000 individuals in Britain who worked in the last year believed that they were experiencing work-related stress at a level that was making them ill.

·      Around 16.7% of all working individuals thought their job was very or extremely stressful.

·      The annual incidence of work-related mental health problems in Britain in 2008 was approximately 5126 new cases per year. However, the HSE says: “This almost certainly underestimates the true incidence of these conditions in the British workforce.”

·      Data from general practitioners indicates that 30.9% of all diagnoses of work-related ill health are cases of mental ill health, with an average length of sickness absence per certified case of 26.8 working days.

·      Occupation groups with the highest levels of self-reported work-related stress are teachers, nurses, and housing and welfare officers, customer service workers, and certain professional and managerial groups.

·      People working within public administration and defence also have high prevalence rates of self-reported work-related stress.

·      Other groups with high incidence rates of work-related mental illness include medical practitioners and those in public sector security-based occupations such as police officers, prison officers, and UK armed forces personnel.

The HSE is urging employers and health and safety professionals to manage and prevent work-related stress through effective stress policies and assessments based on the HSE Stress Management Standards.

What are the Management Standards for work related stress?

The Management Standards define the characteristics, or culture, of an organisation where the risks from work related stress are being effectively managed and controlled.

The Management Standards cover six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and well-being, lower productivity and increased sickness absence. In other words, the six Management Standards cover the primary sources of stress at work. These are:

·         Demands^[1] – this includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment.

·         Control^[2] – how much say the person has in the way they do their work.

·         Support^[3] – this includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues.

·         Relationships^[4] – this includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour.

·         Role^[5] – whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles.

·         Change^[6] – how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation.

The Management Standards represent a set of conditions that, if present, reflect a high level of health well-being and organisational performance.

The Management Standards:

·         demonstrate good practice through a step by step risk assessment approach;

·         allow assessment of the current situation using surveys and other techniques;

·         promote active discussion and working in partnership with employees to help decide on practical improvements that can be made;

·         help simplify risk assessment for work related stress by:

o    identifying the main risk factors for work related stress;

o    helping employers focus on the underlying causes and their prevention; and

o    providing a yardstick by which organisations can gauge their performance in tackling the key causes of stress.

See attached:

Health and Safety Executive Guide INDG430 - 'How to tackle work-related stress - A guide for employers on making the Management Standards work'

Health and Safety Executive Guide HSG218 - 'Managing the causes of work-related stress - A step-by-step approach using the Management Standards'

Yours Sincerely

Dave Joyce

National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

To: The Branch Secretary

Dear Colleague

Membership Records: Online Access to Membership Details

Branches are advised that access went live at 5pm on Friday 15^th January.

Already over 400 members have amended their records, providing the union with over 350 new email addresses. In addition a number of Branch Officials have logged on and amended members’ details.

The service was planned to go live prior to members receiving their log in details with the Voice. Unfortunately, despite all our preparations being complete, a small amount of work on the Head Office server was needed and the company concerned (not connected to the Membership project) took far longer than could have been foreseen to commence the 10 minutes work required. It is regrettable that we could not launch as planned, but from the number of members accessing their records it is clear that the service is working successfully.

Branches are asked to publicise the service to their members.

Branches are reminded that in addition to members using it, the facility for Branches to make certain changes to membership details exist. All Branch Secretaries have access to their members’ records, and should Branches wish, the Secretary can apply for additional Officers to become “Designated OLS Users” which will give them the same rights of access.

Branch Officials are able to amend individual records, export either individual records, or the entire membership database, or send members’ emails via a mail merge facility – for those unfamiliar with this, it sends all selected members an individual personalised email at the touch of one button after you have composed the message.

Branches should refer to LTB 1109/09 (Below) for further information.

Enquiries re this LTB should be addressed to the National Organising Dept for the attention of Matt Edwards medwards@cwu.org Tel 020 8971 7260.

Yours sincerely                                  

John East                                                  

National Organising Secretary

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

The issue of Performance Management is one that is of great concern to members across all lines of business.

The matter has been the subject of discussion with the Company and in particular the way in which our members are

being continually pressurised, harassed and intimidated all in the supposed name of performance management.

It is unacceptable that this abuse of the the agreed process is taking place and it must stop. The CWU are trying to raise the profile of this issue as identified in the letter below and the associated letter to Tom Keeney.

We have heard from members expressing their concerns over this constant monitoring and the stress and anxiety that it leads to, and these

members that are not currently under any form of performance management plan, informal or formal.

We would ask that any member that is subject to a coaching plan, informal PiP, Managing Under Performance (MUP) or formal plan that has not yet informed the CWU to get in touch with their local branch. We understand that there is an associated level of self consciousness that prevents members from being identified with what they see as a personal failure. There is nothing further from the truth, it is not the individual that has failed, more often than not it is the systems and the way that they are used that have identified a supposed failure, this is then compounded by the inability of those who are supposed to give the necessary support, coaching and guidance, to provide it in the manner that it should be used.

Therefore, we need the evidence to combat this abuse at the early stages otherwise this will continue as a ever increasing problem. So please come forward and let us know of your experience.

Members wanting to know more about a particular briefing can contact the Branch Office to receive

a copy of specific letters.