Conference deplores the cost cutting measures employed within NHS Hospital and Primary Care Trusts which have resulted in falling staff levels in wards, departments and community services throughout the Health Service. Low staffing levels result in increased ill health absences which only exacerbates the situation for those staff still at work. Moreover, staff are often […]
Conference motions
Conference welcomes the introduction of greater co-operation and joint working between health and social services as demonstrated by the introduction of Children’s and Older Persons/Adults trusts. Many of our members already work in integrated service under Section 31 funding arrangements or through other joint funding regimes on a variety of secondment or other employment arrangements. […]
As part of the national campaign to recruit and retain nursing staff in UNISON, conference agrees that resources should be made available to enable all regions to establish or enter into relevant partnerships with existing library and nursing services databases to ensure that access to this range of professional services becomes a recruiting tool for […]
Under AfC the lowest spine point in Band 1 falls below the level of half male median earnings. All points in Band 1 fall below £6 an hour. UNISON’s submission to the Low Pay Commission asked for a minimum way of £6 an hour. In many areas UNISON branches have negotiated minimum rates for ancillary […]
Currently violence against NHS staff is high and rising. Nurses are four times more likely than teachers or shop assistants to be the subject of a violent assault at work. During 2002, 115,000 incidents were reported that caused injury and distress to individuals working in the NHS. These involved problems with absence, low morale and […]
Agenda for Change, if accepted, will completely change the structure of the NHS, and all the historical Whitley staff group demarcations will disappear. The way that UNISON Health members are organised will need to respond to this change. UNISON should grasp the opportunity to review the way in which it can best represent its members’ […]
This conference supports UNISON’s involvement in the NHS Pensions Review which is subject to the Unison wide policy on pensions review and against the background of wider discussions between the TUC and Government on public sector pensions. Like other sectors, the National Ancillary & Maintenance Sector has concerns around pensions issues relating to pension age, […]
This Health Conference notes that as expected the indications from the Early Implementers is that the proposals on unsociable hours, in particular, but not only, for low paid workers, will create huge difficulties for the health service. Conference therefore urges the national negotiators as a major priority to renegotiate on the basis of obtaining two […]
We call on the Government as a matter of urgency to publish its consultation on an effective system of regulation for Healthcare Assistants, which recognises the essential contribution they make to patient care. This important issue is not being prioritised sufficiently by ministers. The lack of such proposals does nothing to ensure patient or client […]
The Ancillary Sector membership has a long history of under investment by managers in the NHS; providing learning and training opportunities to ancillary staff has never been a priority. It is often viewed as unnecessary by some employers or treated in a slipshod and half-hearted fashion by others who under value ancillary staff and their […]
This Conference reaffirms UNISON’s aim of working “To Improve the pay and conditions of members and promote their interests”, and recognises that our involvement in reaching agreements on behalf of members is legally empowered through individual contracts of employment. It is noted that contracts based on, or “mirroring” nationally determined pay and conditions, invariably refer […]
Conference, concerned at the gradual privatisation of the NHS, believes that the development of Private Diagnostic and Treatment Centres (DTC’s) in particular could have a number of significant disadvantages for the NHS overall and for staff working in DTC’s and in adjoining Trusts. a)many of the companies operating these centres are unproved and little evidence […]
Conference congratulates and acknowledges the ground breaking work undertaken by the Nursing Sector and Service Group Executive to facilitate the first national conference of Healthcare Assistants. It is vital that UNISON as the largest trade union and the natural home for Healthcare Assistants continues to recognise and highlight the vital contribution that Healthcare Assistants make […]
This conference deplores the use of violence, verbal threats and abuse against healthcare workers, recognising the detrimental effect these have on the abilty of staff to continue working in such environments, as well as the negative effect violence and aggression can have on service users. We acknowledge, however that some patients are unwell at the […]
This Conference strongly opposes the Government’s moves to undermine the fundamental principles of the NHS by encouraging private finance, competition and a re-introduction of the internal market. We believe that the use of the private sector to finance and deliver NHS services is a less efficient use of NHS resources and will undermine our ability […]