Council leaders have promised to treat care staff facing the axe more “compassionately” than colleagues at another rehab centre that they closed controversially a year ago. Bristol City Council chiefs say they have learned lessons after coming under fire from unions and opposition councillors throughout 2021 for how they dealt with employees at South Bristol Rehab Centre before it shut last summer.
The promise came as City Hall cabinet members approved the closure of East Bristol Intermediate Care Centre at a meeting on Tuesday, May 2. Last year, South Bristol Rehab Centre staff were first told that they would transfer to community healthcare provider Sirona at South Bristol Community Hospital on the same pay, terms and conditions.
But the deal fell through and trade union GMB complained the workers were treated “absolutely appallingly”, kept in the dark for months and not asked for their views, with the majority going off sick with “high levels of stress, anxiety and depression”.
