- Conference
- 2011 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 2 December 2010
- Decision
- Carried
This Conference is concerned that in the 21st century, nurses and other heath workers continue to be at risk from workplace injuries that can give rise to them acquiring a new status of disability. In many cases employers view the only option for such workers to be transferred from a clinical role into administrative and clerical posts. Such jobs are perceived as being ‘backroom’ functions even though they are essential to the success of clinical outcomes; such attitudes can also compromise patient standards of health care.
The Equality Act Code of Practice on Employment recommends consideration of job relocation and transferring disabled staff to another post as options for reasonable adjustments. Whilst such options have traditionally been viewed as a safety net for clinical staff transferring to administrative and clerical posts, this is no longer the case while threatened cuts to NHS Direct are still possible.
This Conference instructs the Health Service Group Executive to:
1)Campaign against all cuts in health services and health members’ jobs and in particular to protect NHS Direct and those members who work in it;
2)Provide guidance to regional health structures to develop public service health alliances to protect disabled health workers’ jobs;
3)Continue to bust the myth (through all available channels including the media links) that ‘back room’ jobs delivered by disabled people are not an essential cog in the NHS machinery;
4)Report back fully on progress to the UNISON Health Conference 2012.