Unison Cambridge University & Royal Papworth Hospitals

20/01/2026

14/01/2026

Important coroner finding.

For too long, the level of care given to patients in NHS trusts has been adjusted to fit staffing levels, and not (as it should be) the other way round.

If you ever have a specialling request refused or overridden, or are a HCSW and you are asked to special more than one falls-risk patient and you feel it’s not safe:

1) Escalate to your Nurse in Charge/Manager/Matron, making sure they are aware that THEY will be accountable if a fall occurs because of inadequate staffing cover.

2) Document, both in the records of any patients affected, and through any official incident reporting system to ensure records of escalation.

3) Talk to your union. We can escalate concerns directly to senior executives within the trust. If you are not a member of a union, go to joinunison.org.

Two older men died after sustaining head injuries following falls in the emergency department of St George’s Hospital in London in February 2024. A coroner’s prevention of future deaths reports has found that their deaths could have been avoided had there been adequate nursing supervision and in...

17/12/2025

Solidarity from CUH/RPH UNISON to all doctors taking industrial action this week.

Great to see all the support from the general public. There is evidently a great deal of appreciation for the work you do, and don’t let any billionaire owned newspaper, professional autocue reader, or disingenuous politician tell you otherwise.

Dave - Branch Chair
Ben - Branch Secretary

17/11/2025

Employment in understaffed services is making nurses sick, according to survey findings from the Royal College of Nursing.

30/10/2025

A tragic story, and the investigation exposed a culture of fabricating records at the mental health trust involved. This is something that, through our safe staffing forum, UNISON knows is a cultural issue in NHS trusts across the country.

The ongoing drive to improve and maintain healthcare metrics, not least, those that focus on patient “roundings”, when staffing levels do not allow the desired standard of patient care, has led to a similar culture in many UK trusts.

Our advice to members, especially in light of these findings: Make sure you document accurately. If you looked in on the patient at 1423hrs (because you were busy with other patients and couldn’t do it at 1400hrs), document that time on the records. If you completely missed a check because you were too busy, don’t put a time in, document (briefly) the reason it was missed, and escalate the staffing issues though incident reports, and to your UNISON team.

Most importantly, if a colleague or line manager ever tries to force you to fabricate patient safety records, confirm the conversation in an email, and cc your union rep (if you haven’t got one, go to joinunison.org).

If in the next month, PLEASE also report the shift via the safe staffing survey (see QR code in previous post. This takes seconds, and gives us the data to confront trusts about this issue).

UNISON’s Only Enough is Enough campaign is making a difference, but we can only do so with your help. Stand up for your right not to be scapegoated for institutional failings and for decision makers who deem your day to day working conditions as acceptable to start taking responsibility for said decisions.

Solidarity,

Dave (Branch Chair)

Nursing student Cerys Lupton-Jones died after failures in the care she was given at Park House mental health unit, which was run by Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and has since closed. The coroner at the inquest into her death pointed to a culture that enabled staff to falsify...

26/10/2025

Funded through Nationally Lottery funding through Arts Council England and Cambridge City Council Community Grant, Legacies of Windrush is a co-curated exhibition celebrating the extraordinary stories of everyday people in the Caribbean community in Cambridge.

Curated by the next generation, the Young Curators explored themes of resilience, family, joy and celebration through the exhibition. Visit the exhibition to see the lives of local people retold through the eyes of the community.

Legacies of Windrush is on until 26th January 2026.

24/10/2025

Great day today calibrating Black History Month. Thanks you to everyone who took the time to attend.

24/10/2025

This was just posted on the CUH staff page. A reminder to all our members, whether on hospital premises or not, NEVER allow anyone with a portable card reader access to your card (yes, even if they are dressed like a security guard). This is an increasingly common scam method, especially in car parks and on doorsteps.

“…[family member] pulled up at the front of the hospital in the pick up bay.
Someone in a security uniform told him you had to pay £2.50 to collect someone from there and foolishly he used his card to tap the person’s mobile card reader
They have got home to find one of their bank accounts has attempted to have all the funds withdrawn from it. Thankfully, Barclays has stopped everything other than a small transaction”

24/10/2025

Black History Month celebrations now on in the David Dunn suite. Please come by for great food and company.

21/10/2025

Dear members.

You will have seen the e-mails from UNISON Health, asking you to complete this short survey after every shift.

If you are concerned about staffing in your area, it is really important that we capture this data. Outcomes of this survey in previous years have already been sent out to UK trust leadership, feed into our union's drive to hold the government to account over the NHS, and has already been invaluable in demonstrating the reality of NHS trust staffing issues, allowing us to push-back in casework, when attepmts are made to blame our members for the many issues caused by the normalisation of unsafe staffing levels.

Please complete this after every shift. It takes seconds, and it DOES make a difference.

Thank you.

Dave (Branch Chair)

10/10/2025

Exclusive: Royal College of Nursing says plan to tighten rules for foreign workers is ‘pandering’ to Reform UK