There was some discussion about the new Amicus structures and a fairly heated debate about the failure of the union to sanction a meeting of the Scottish NHS Regional Sector Committee. There was some concern over conflicting messages coming from the NEC on both this and the role of the elected NEC members. The group were also concerned that the NEC appear to be completely oblivious to the realities of devolution.
Rumours were circulating that there was a possibility that the implementation date for AfC was likely to slip to 1.12.04, but the official date is still 1.10.04. However the Computer Aided Job Evaluation (CAJE) System was unlikely to be ready for October. The AfC Review was taking place and, although scheduled to report by the end of June, was considered more likely to report by mid-late July. This review would produce the final package of terms and conditions and any changes to the profiles and/or job evaluation package. As this will not be known by the time of the NHS National Conference on 27/28th June, there can be no Conference recommendation on whether to accept or reject the package in the ballot.
It was noted that, despite the confidentiality agreement surrounding the pilot scheme, some results from West Lothian had been published in the Scottish press. At the end of a two tabloid page report a small paragraph stated that the results were still confidential and that no-one would lose out anyway due to the protection arrangements! There is no information on how accurate the report was.
There was discussion on the “Train the Trainers” training. It was agreed it should be accredited. However, accreditation for each of the modules cost £50 (which should be paid by the employer) and the completion of a 2500 word essay per module. The latter came as a surprise to those attending the training and there was concern about the time that would be taken to research and complete these essays.
Local reports from each of the Health Board areas were then given.