- Conference
- 2003 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 1 December 2002
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the Department of Health decision to introduce bursaries for ODP trainees. We believe this is a retrograde step, which adversely affects recruitment at a time of acute staff shortages and when Ministers are seeking an increase in ODP numbers.
The introduction of bursaries radically cuts the incomes of students and removes their employment rights.
Conference welcomes the UNISON campaign against this step and deplores the failure to consult UNISON as the main organisation representing ODP’s in the NHS.
We call on UNISON to:
1.Ensure Ministers continue to be lobbied on this issue;
2.Press for the restoration of employment rights and the previous salaried arrangements;
3.Monitor the position of seconded students who retain salaried status but whose financial position is unclear, and who may be discriminated against because they are more expensive to train than bursaried students;
4.Step up efforts to recruit ODP students.
5.