NEWS
South West NHS trusts join regional pay ‘cartel’
A consortium of trusts in the South West are seeking to impose a regional pay structure through a unilateral pay deal, according to unions, who have dubbed it a ‘pay cartel’ that undermines Agenda for Change.
The South West Pay, Terms and Conditions Consortium is outlining suggestions for drastically reducing running costs in the region, with around 20 trusts having paid £10,000 required for membership.
In a response to a union FoI request, one consortium member, Yeovil District Hospital NHS FT, said: “YDH has agreed to be part of this consortium to consider how more flexible ways of rewarding and incentivising staff might be constructed, so that high quality patient care can be delivered in the most cost effective way
possible.”
The board meetings in which this decision was discussed and made were held in private, the trust said, and future meetings relating to the pay consortium will be too.
Unions say the consortium wants cuts to salaries, leave entitlement and allowances, longer working hours, the dismissal and re- employment of staff, and changes to sickness benefits in the South West.
Unison’s head of health Christina McAnea said: “This pay cartel is paving the way to poorer wages for their staff, poorer treatment for their patients and a ripple effect that will damage already depressed economies in the South West.”
Sean Cusack, the BMA’s industrial
Virgin Care to run children’s services in Devon
Virgin Care has been named the preferred bidder for a £130m contract to run children’s services in Devon.
The other two bidders were a consortium of Devon Partnership NHS
Trust with and charities
Barnado’s, Young Devon and Interserve;
Serco Cornwall Partnership NHS FT.
The company will take over frontline services in March 2013. The contract will run for three years and covers integrated health and social care services, including mental health, school nurses and health visitors.
Virgin Care will also take on around 1,100 staff currently employed by NHS Devon and Devon County Council. Child protection will remain the responsibility of local government.
Rebecca Harriott, director of commissioning
development with
at NHS Devon, said: “We know that these are important and sensitive services and it is vital to ensure that everyone can be confident that a winning bidder is able to deliver the best possible outcomes for children and young people across Devon.”
A Virgin Care spokesman said: “Since 2006 we have treated over 2 million people delivering services that offer improved accessibility, convenience, satisfaction and most importantly, that deliver improved health outcomes while at the same time providing improved value for money.”
BMA cancels strike plans
The BMA has suspended plans for further strikes over pension reforms, and says doctors will seek change through negotiation ahead of any further industrial action.
The June 21 action, in protest at plans to raise the retirement age and increase contributions, affected a fifth of practices and 2,703 operations. It was the first time doctors had taken industrial action in almost 40 years.
BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter said: “We would always far prefer to seek changes to the Government’s plans for NHS pensions through negotiation and lobbying, rather than taking action that could jeopardise the much-valued relationship with our patients.”
Alcohol strategy has wrong focus – MPs
UK alcohol strategy must focus on health outcomes, not public order, according to the Health Select Committee.
There are nearly 7,000 alcohol- related deaths each year. The
Committee stated that the strategy needs clearer health objectives to measure the effectiveness of the policy.
A minimum price per alcohol unit is supported by the report, although the Committee suggested this should be monitored and removed if it doesn’t reduce harmful drinking.
Millions of ‘unnecessary’ NHS visits
GP departments
surgeries in
and England
A&E and
Wales receive roughly 51 million ‘unnecessary’ visits per year.
Research shows that a fifth of all visits to GPs concern ‘minor problems’ that patients could deal with themselves or treat with over- the-counter medication, such as travel sickness, dandruff and blocked noses.
Healthcare leaders have raised concerns that unnecessary visits are draining resources away from higher priority cases and long- term conditions. The NHS is working with the Self Care Forum (SCF) to discover more about the problem.
national health executive Jul/Aug 12 | 7
relations officer, said: “Regional pay and conditions really means lower pay for those outside the London area.
“In the South West the NHS is a major employer, so regional pay means significantly less money in the local economy, and a lower standard of living.” Labour said it is a “sign of the chaos engulfing
the NHS”, but senior Coalition figures have backed regional pay as a way of reinvigorating the private sector, which it claims is
struggling to compete with
high public sector pay in some regions. NHS Employers has said the South West consortium’s plans are not associated with the Government’s pay agenda.
broader regional
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