Conference notes that the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) is the custom-built development tool that supports career and pay progression for all NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts. As an integral part of Agenda for Change, the KSF gives staff a contractual right to access learning and development opportunities at work. Conference recognises […]
Conference motions
Conference welcomes and endorses the Million Voices for Public Services campaign, which highlights that UNISON members care passionately about the services they provide and want to see changes that put people before profit and public interest before private greed. As the largest trade union in health, UNISON is best placed to ensure that those working […]
Conference welcomes the achievements that partnership working at national, regional and local level has brought over the past decade. UNISON has worked to pioneer partnership working throughout the NHS and in all four countries of the UK. The experience has shown conclusively that partnership can deliver real gains for health staff and union members as […]
Conference recognises the devastating effect that the earthquake has had on the governance and infrastructure of Haiti. However, Conference is particularly concerned that within hours of the disaster overseas adoptions were being fast tracked. Whilst Conference wishes that young women and girls who have lost family and friends in Haiti are given the opportunity for […]
Conference notes with alarm the devastating scale of cuts in the Public Sector which has become clear as public bodies’ budgets are being finalised. Conference condemns any attempts to roll back women’s equality through attacks on funding of the women’s voluntary sector and public services which primarily affect women. Whilst national campaigns by their very […]
Conference notes that in November 2009, Breast Cancer UK launched a campaign calling on the government and devolved nations to take action to end the use of controversial chemical, Bisphenol-A (commonly abbreviated to BPA), in baby bottles. Already voluntarily withdrawn from shelves in Canada and the USA, polycarbonate baby bottles made with BPA are still […]
Conference notes the changes to the NHS pension scheme and ill Health Retirement arrangements that have been in place since April 2008. Conference also notes there have been no extra groups of special classes for many years in the scheme, the last being Mental Health Officer status even though front line ambulance staff have campaigned […]
This Conference is concerned that government’s solution to the current recession is through cutting funding to health services is having a negative disproportionate impact on disabled employees. The evidence from the Disabled Members Self Organised Group is that disabled health staff are more vulnerable with regards to redundancy and employers are using false competency measures […]
Conference notes the importance of skill mix throughout the NHS workforce and by developing good workforce planning in Nursing and Allied Health Professional Services which delivers better, flexible patient care. However, replacing Bands 5, 6 and 7 Nursing and Allied Health Professional staff with Band 3-5 Clinical Support Worker, to reduce costs will only put […]
Conference notes that by the financial year 2013/14 the total amount of money to be repaid by NHS Trusts to PFI consortia will be £2.3 billion a year, with a total debt of £90 billion over the duration of the schemes. This increased pressure on valuable NHS resources will come at a time when the […]
This Conference notes the increasing challenges facing the nursing and midwifery family workforce. Following the Darzi Review nurses are being subjected to increasing scrutiny. They are expected to demonstrate their contribution to patient and service-level outcomes, using yet to be fully determined metrics, which are based mainly on the negative elements of care for example […]
Conference notes that in the current financial climate many NHS organisations are not taking into account the valuable role therapy services play in delivering efficient, cost-effective and patient-centred services. Many NHS organisations need to make significant financial savings, causing them to cut therapy services and freeze vacant posts. This short-sighted approach fails to recognise the […]
Conference recognises and welcomes the ongoing campaign to gain recognition for cleaners in the NHS as part of the healthcare team. Initiatives such as the successful UNISON Cleaners Conference 2009 and Clean Hospitals Committees help raise the profile of Cleaners and demonstrate how they play an integral part in patient safety and care. UNISON sponsored […]
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 […]