The abolition of the NHS bursary in England took effect on 1 August 2017. The 2017 Health Conference called on the Health Service Executive Group to “monitor the quality of placements if there are additional training places” among other things. Conference notes that the finalisation of the funding arrangements for clinical placements in England happened […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that NHS Employers are moving more towards agile working. The argument for implementing agile working is to increase productivity and to save money in the face of massive Cost Improvement Programmes forced on to NHS organisations. Conference understands that where agile working is implemented and driven as a measure to cut costs it […]
Conference welcomes the work done by the Service Group Executive and the devolved nations in setting up the Devolution Working Group and congratulates them on the work done so far. However we still have a bit to go when finalising the Conference agenda and particularly guest speakers. Health is a devolved matter so when the […]
Conference notes that the structure of our SGE has pretty much remained unchanged since the formation of UNISON nearly a quarter of a century ago. However within this time period there have been considerable changes to both the NHS and to pay for healthcare workers. The UNISON definition of Low Pay is based on the […]
Conference congratulates the Scottish Health Committee on a successful Scrap the Cap campaign which has led to the Scottish Government publicly announcing an end to their 1% public sector pay policy. Conference notes that this was down to the organisation within branches by both activists and members which included the Scrap the Cap Facebook page […]
Conference recognises the continued under-funding of education and training for NHS staff. The NHS Constitution states that employers have a responsibility for ensuring the ongoing learning needs of their workforce are met. Maintaining skills and supporting personal development is a vital part of supporting a quality service that fully meets the needs of patients and […]
The NHS nursing workforce is changing owing to the growing shortage of registered nurses. In an aging workforce, large numbers are retiring owing to the sheer pressure they are under trying to juggle staff shortages and more complex patient needs. They are worn out and demoralised and to add to this the intake has dropped […]
Conference notes that work-related stress is one of the biggest health hazards in the workplace. Conference notes the latest estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) which shows the total number of cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2015/16 was 488,000 cases, a prevalence of 1510 per 100,000 workers. The data also notes […]
UNISON has a long standing history of campaigning and helping those who face discrimination. In the past few years UNISON has made great strides in helping our transgender members. However there is still more to be done. A survey of non-binary trans people done this year by the Scottish transgender alliance showed that 60% of […]
Conference applauds the work done by our union on highlighting the need for increased staff-to-patient ratios, including the 2017 “Safe Staffing” survey. However, conference is concerned to note that reports from NHS staff working in the community, the majority of whom are women, suggest that they are subject to the same levels of stress and […]
This conference notes; that this government is attempting to blame and scapegoat the relatively small number of migrants who use NHS care. They estimate the horrible phrased “health tourism” as £200million. Somehow this is identified by the government as a key problem for the NHS when they have cut £22,000 million, over 100 times more, […]
Conference notes that bank holidays are calculated pro-rata for part-time workers and believes in fair and equitable treatment for all. Giving part-time employees a pro-rata Bank Holiday entitlement frequently leaves members who work on Mondays with a loss of annual leave. For example in the leave year 2017/18 an employee who works 16 hours over […]
Bucks Health Care & Community has recognised that there is an inequality in pay banding across the NHS. Many NHS workers are doing similar roles in trusts for different pay; these differences can even be in neighbouring NHS Trusts. The inequality in pay banding becomes more apparent when the job role does not fit the […]
Conference welcomes the pay max campaign as a way of preparing members for potential industrial action over our pay claim of 3.9 percent and £800. It is also positive that all health unions have lined up and are behind the claim and that the claim announcement received a great deal of publicity and meant that […]
Conference welcomes Unison recent guidance on apprenticeship pay and recommends it to all branches when negotiating pay rates for apprentices, as we believe that apprentices should be paid the rate for the job and not used to undermine our terms and conditions or be exploited because of their enthusiasm to work in the health service. […]