Case study Acas and Essex Ambulance Service NHS Trust: Improving consultation and working patterns This case study illustrates how Acas helped an NHS Trust to improve management-trade union relations, modernise working patterns, and revitalise consultative processes 1 . The Challenge Essex Ambulance Service (EAS) is an organisation dealing with unscheduled care, predominantly accessed via 999 calls. It was established as an NHS Trust in 1990 and employs around 1,300 people who are primarily members of two unions, Unison and the GMB. The Trust had two inter-related problems. Firstly, relations between management and unions had deteriorated after a national ambulance dispute in 1989. Trade unions did not have recognition at the Trust, and a trade union representative described the

Join for free to read