NEWS

Thousands of nurses and midwives across England will stage a 12-hour strike on January 29 and a 24-hour walk-out on February 25, marking a significant escalation in the pay dispute. Staff are also being urged to ‘work to rule’ by taking all the breaks they are entitled to and refusing to work overtime between the two strikes. Unison head of health Christine McAnea said: ‘We warned months ago that this dispute is here to stay unless the government and NHS Employers are prepared to negotiate with us.’

UNITE

Health unions step up pay action with strikes and work to rule

Unite members staged a Dickensian protest outside Downing Street casting Jeremy Hunt as Scrooge

NHS faces staff exodus if unsocial hours payments are withdrawn By Alistair Kleebauer

@kleebauer

Half of all healthcare workers would leave the NHS if unsocial hours payments are scrapped, a joint union survey has found as a review into seven-day working takes place. Unions have polled staff on the issue after health minister Dan Poulter asked the NHS Pay Review Body (RB) to examine ways of delivering seven-day services in England ‘without increasing the existing spending’. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said the move could be a ‘precursor’ to stopping unsocial hours payments to staff. In evidence submitted to the RB for the review, the RCN highlighted a joint union survey of more than 24,000 NHS workers, of whom 40 per cent were nurses, midwives and clinical support workers. It found 50 per cent would leave the health service if the extra pay was axed. Another survey by the RCN of 266 members who work shifts found 92 per cent relied on unsocial hours

payments to make ends meet; 82 per cent would look for a different job if the payments stopped. The college told the RB that ‘variations in outcomes and mortality outside core hours are unacceptable and must be addressed’ and that RCN members are committed to seven-day services. But its submission said that the focus of the review is a ‘way of

‘WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT IT IS THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO DO’ dismantling the existing Agenda for Change agreement, particularly unsocial hours payments’. A joint NHS trade union submission to the RB said there was a ‘lack of clarity’ around the proposed objectives of the seven-day care model. RCN head of employment relations Josie Irwin said: ‘You cannot do it without more money in the system – but, to have a constructive discussion

in the first place, we need to know what it is that they [the government] want to do.’ Nurses and other workers get additional pay, ranging from time plus 30 per cent to double time depending on their pay band, for working on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and night shifts. There must be a detailed consideration of the impact of seven-day working on physical and emotional health, and on work-life balance, the college said. Research by University College London and other UK institutions has shown higher mortality rates for patients admitted to hospital at the weekend. The RB will report to the incoming government after the general election in May. A Department of Health spokesperson said: ‘Patients deserve the same high-quality care every day of the week. NHS staff are our greatest asset and we want to make the current pay system fairer and sustainable for the benefit of staff and patients.’

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NHS faces staff exodus if unsocial hours payments are withdrawn.

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