Bristol rehab centre closure 'not council's finest hour'

The way a rehab centre was shut in a cash-saving drive was not a council's "finest hour", a committee has been told.

South Bristol Rehab Centre was closed last summer in a bid to save £500,000 a year.

But the 33 staff members who lost their jobs were not consulted at any stage, a Bristol City Council committee was told.

Councillor Richard Eddy said employees "were treated pretty shockingly".

Twenty staff members left through voluntary severance, nine were deployed to other council jobs, three were made redundant and one left by "mutual agreement".

Bristol City Council's human resources committee was told on Thursday that none of the centre's staff members were asked for their views during a consultation on its closure.

Union representatives said those writing a report on the consequences of the closure had still not sought the opinions of former workers, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Jeff Sutton, secretary of Avon and Wessex GMB branch, said there needed to be a "deeper investigation" into the treatment of staff.

Mr Eddy told the meeting: "The closure of South Bristol Rehab Centre was certainly not this council's finest hour. Some of the staff were treated pretty shockingly."

Another closure could soon be on the cards, with council executives consulting on shutting the East Bristol Intermediate Care Centre to try and save £1m over the next two years.

James Brereton, head of human resources at the council, said: "I do recognise the concerns raised. I would absolutely accept that there are things that must be learned from this situation."

He added: "In this particular case things appear to have not got off on the right foot, and it was then very difficult for leaders to recover the situation."

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