Conference broadly welcome the setting of some limits to the privatisation of NHS services set out in the Secretary of State’s speech to the Kings Fund in September 2009, and the agreement through the NHS Social Partnership Forum which followed. Conference is however concerned that a number of drivers towards privatisation such as the Framework […]
Conference motions
Conference notes the interest in reciprocal community unionism within UNISON and at the fringe meeting at last year’s health conference. Internationally, it has been persuasively argued that trade unions face a legitimacy crisis. There is a pressing need for our union to project an identity and mission that has an impact in communities beyond our […]
This Conference demands that the Service Group Executive approach NHS Employers for the purpose of negotiating an NHS wide policy agreement on Security and Privacy of Information Technology to include best practice guidance on access to employees’ data respecting privacy and ending cavalier practices within IT departments. UNISON to provide training programs to ensure branches […]
Conference notes the findings of the Boorman Review including: ·The large number of staff that continue to attend work while feeling unwell; ·The connection between staff health & wellbeing and standards of care; ·The connections between staff health & wellbeing and the public health agenda; ·The importance of investing in high quality occupational health services; […]
Conference welcomes the massive amounts of extra funding the NHS has received in recent years after decades of under-investment, and continues to support the centralised funding of our health service. Conference notes the importance of the NHS during the recession and the fact that, unlike other countries such as the USA, in the UK losing […]
Conference notes the importance of a graduated return to work from long term sickness absence. Branch Officers and stewards regularly represent cases where a protracted absence is the result of bullying and harassment or due to a serious underlying health condition. In some cases our members require redeployment after sickness into a new position, and […]
Despite the excellent UNISON guidance booklet, ‘Making Us Better’, and Annex Z of the Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions handbook, many NHS employers have very punitive policies and procedures on managing sickness absence. These effectively mean that members can be disciplined for being off sick, in that they receive ‘warnings’ that if their attendance […]
Bargaining Sectors, Occupational Groups and Occupational Networks Conference notes the report Health Service Group Structures Review which sets out the changes to the Health Group constitution necessary to address the changes to Service Group structures agreed at National Delegate Conference 2009 and the revised sector/occupational group changes proposed by the Health Group Executive. Conference approves […]
Conference welcomes the Three Companies Project and other initiatives by UNISON to strengthen the union’s membership and organisation in private companies operating in the NHS. Such work is vital if we are going to be able to make these companies treat their workforce with anything like the same standards on pay, conditions, workplace policies etc […]
Conference notes the good work done by UNISON in their campaigns under the headings of ·A Million Voices for Public Services ·Pay Matters ·Keep the NHS working ·Positively Public. These campaigns have been essential in the primary care sector where the threat of privatisation has been the greatest under the Transforming Community Services agenda. The […]
Conference notes that members in the health service are facing a wide range of regulatory reforms. Conference recognises the contribution of UNISON’s Professional Service Unit in taking forward issues regarding the regulation of health care staff including providing professional representation, working with regulators and creating links and innovative partnerships with professional organisations. Conference is aware […]
Conference notes with dismay how band 4 Associate Practitioners are being abused in some of our NHS hospitals and departments. This role of Associate Practitioner was introduced to utilise the experience of HCAs giving them the opportunity to progress in the workplace and means for the NHS to overcome future shortages in the nursing workforce […]
Conference reaffirms its commitment in protecting members’ pensions, who face privatisation/outsourcing in the NHS or have already been privatised/outsourced during the life of this government. Conference notes the current present trend by private companies is moving to disband defined benefit pension schemes ( final salary schemes to its existing members), thereby raising the prospect of […]
Walsall Hospitals Branch believes that many NHS employers are applying inconsistencies when using bank workers as a deliberate ploy to prevent the payment of overtime and unsociable hours payments enjoyed by NHS employees. NHS employers are engaging staff on separate bank workers contracts in order to avoid paying the appropriate AfC overtime rates. The Walsall […]
This conference notes from the HIV & AIDS in the North West of England 2008 Report, that there has been an increase of 13 % of people newly diagnosed with HIV in the North West between 2007 and 2008. For the same period, there is a 24% increase in Lancashire. Overall there has been an […]