Staff at the hospital’s Continuing Care Unit (CCU) downed tools yesterday over concerns about the future of the unit.Nursing aides, orderlies, unit assistants, dietary aides and activity aides from the unit marched from King Edward VII Memorial to the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) headquarters for a meeting with union staff.The move came days after Minister of Health and Seniors Patricia Gordon Pamplin said Government intended to close the unit, describing it as “not fit for purpose”.BIU president Chris Furbert said: “My understanding is that the whole of the CCU unit set down, and they set down out of frustrations and concerns regarding comments made by the Minister.“The staff are very concerned about their jobs, they are very concerned about the seniors. They are very concerned about their care, so much so that they are urging us to have a meeting with the Minister as well as [Bermuda Hospitals Board CEO] Venetta Symonds to get these matters clarified as soon as we can.“It’s probably going to be a joint meeting between the Bermuda Public Service Union [BPSU], the BIU and the Minister, as well as the BHB CEO.”He said that Ms Symonds had met with some unit staff on Monday, but said that meeting only took place because the staff had threatened to down tools.“If it wasn’t for that, nobody would probably have said anything to them,” he said.A spokeswoman for the BHB said the group was aware of a small march of KEMH staff concerned about the future of the unit, but that there was no official notification of the march.“The BHB was not officially informed of any march or protest,” she said. “There are official notifications that have to take place in the event of planned action. This is how we work together to ensure a seamless service for our vulnerable populations.“The majority of BHB staff did remain on-site and ensured that the service to our patients and residents was uninterrupted.”She said that since Monday a meeting with CCU staff, Ms Symonds and the Permanent Secretary of the Minister of Health has taken place, and the speech by the Minister has been sent to all staff, where there are discussion boards to answer questions.“We understand individuals may have concerns, and there are forums in which these can be raised,” the spokeswoman said.“BHB will continue to communicate with its staff, residents and families, and also work with the Ministry on the issue of long term care.”Questioned about a lack of notification for the march, Mr Furbert cited a lack of communication between the hospital board and the unions.“My concern is they have two unions down there, the BIU and the BPSU,” he said. “Why are they not meeting with the unions, meeting with the staff, talking about the plans going forward? That’s how things should be done.”He pointed out a flyer containing a quote from Ms Symonds. That quote read: “There are no plans to close CCU or transfer ARDU at the moment, although we will be discontinuing the small day care service shortly.“Long term, we know CCU needs replacing as the facility is 94 years old. So a question we need to consider is whether BHB builds a new facility for this client group or whether they are better served by a community solution. Any solution will be many years away, and until then our service will continue as long as is needed.”A BHB spokesman said the quote came in response to a question on the hospital’s intranet. The response was first posted on April 18, 2013, and was subsequently placed on a poster in CCU for any unit staff members who might not have seen it.The spokeswoman added: “In April, this was an accurate statement.”