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District Member's Report for Guild Council Meeting 19.9.2002



Glasgow & West of Scotland Group Meetings
The Annual Ten-pin Bowling Tournament took place on Thursday 5th September. The winners this time were Hairmyres Hospital, beating the Royal Alexandra Hospital team into second place. So for the first time, the trophy can be found in Lanarkshire.

The next meeting of the Group will be on 9th October to discuss Agenda For Change. This meeting will be addressed by Michael Fuller, Regional Officer

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Organisational Changes
Some internal management structure changes are being made in Lanarkshire Acute Trust. The Pharmacy review in North Glasgow is still ongoing with management structure changes gradually appearing.

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Staffing
There are several new posts in Lanarkshire Acute Trust. An Area Grade E post and 3 new Grade D clinical posts for Acute Admissions and Emergency Care and a Grade E Area Cancer Services post have been approved. There is also a new Grade A/B pharmacist post and a Grade D Oncology/Palliative Care post. Stobhill Hospital has appointed 2 new rotational pharmacists but are having problems with maintaining the on-call service. A Grade D clinical post is to be advertised to replace the DUE pharmacist vacancy.

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Advice and questions
I have advised on grading and salary questions and processed five membership applications.

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Amicus-MSF Senior Reps Meeting 6.8.02
Agenda For Change: At a meeting held on 30.7.02, the Knowledge and Skills Framework is on version 5a, and not directly linked to pay progression. It will be used as part of Personal Development Plans.

There have been over 100 enquiries for early implementer status and a list of these will be sent to all unions on 19th August 2002. These trusts should be up and running by the end of March 2003.

Management have proposed 8-10 pay bands with 5-9 levels within each band. This will probably mean one band for consultants and two for unqualified staff.

A joint group is meeting on 20th August to consider grading structures.

Scottish Public Pensions Agency: Concerns were raised about the control and accountability of SPPA which appears to be a law unto itself. Changes made to the rules appear not to involve consultation or partnership and there are no appeals mechanisms. This needs to be discussed by the SPF. MF agreed to write to try to set up a meeting to open discussions. It was noted that the rules and government of SPPA are set at UK level.

Scottish Partnership Forum: The HR forum might finally be sorted out next week after a meeting of the SPF secretariat on 5.8.02. The main issues are

1. The number of seats each organisation has on the forum. Unison wants 45% of the seats.

2. SEHD wanted voting rights, not consensus agreement

3. links between the HRF and the SPF

There have been major discussions on all three of the issues. A meeting on the 7.8.02 is likely to change the number of seats on the SPF from 28 to 30 (14 staff side / 14 management side). Unison can therefore only have extra seats at the expense of other organisations. It is thought management will withdraw the suggestion of voting rights. The link to the SPF has still to be sorted out, but a Unison dominated agenda is not wanted. The next meeting of the SPF is 23.8.02.

GLASGOW Acute Strategy Review: The Minister will make a decision this month, but is unlikely not to endorse it. There will apparently be NHS candidates in selected constituencies for the election next year.

GLASGOW Admin & Clerical Staff: Unison in Glasgow have put in a claim for all A&C staff to be upgraded. This was done within each trust, but a meeting of all the HR Directors and Full Time Oficers came up with 2 propositions -

1. unified approach across Glasgow on a partnership basis

2. if unions willing to go down this road, HB willing to put in £2.5m to fund it.

Recruitment and Retention: Scotland top with 1.3% recruitment across the board and just under 3% net gain in the NHS.

HealthCare International Hospital, Clydebank: This has been set up as a special health board which has advertised for board chair and members. All staff are being brought into NHS Scotland and a partnership forum is planned. The HR director has attended a meeting of the WOS HR Directors. The board will try to maintain contracts for private patients as a form of income generation, but will be expected not to take on private patients in NHS patients are waiting for a bed. At the moment, Trusts using HCI to treat people and take them out of the waiting lists will not be charged for their treatment.

PTB Handbook: It was noted that there is provision in this handbook for extending the 6 months full pay in serious illness.

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Agenda For Change Meeting 16.9.02
Barrie Brown, Amicus–MSF Officer representing the union in the central UK negotiating group on Agenda For Change, is to visit Scotland on 16th September to update senior NHS reps on progress with the package. I hope to attend and produce a report from the meeting. The report will, as usual, be available here when complete.

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Group Secretaries Meeting 18.9.02
Group Secretary Ian MacDonald is unable to attend the Group Secretaries Meeting due to prior commitments. I will pass on any comments he has for the meeting.

Colin Rodden
11 September 2002

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