60,000 doctors and nurses to be told cut pay or be axed
UP TO 60,000 doctors and nurses in the South West face the sack unless they accept cuts in pay and working conditions, a Sunday newspaper claims.
NHS bosses at 19 hospitals in the region have suggested terminating all staff contracts and re-offering them on different terms, according to a leaked document obtained by The Sunday Times.
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Derriford Hospital
New terms could include pay cuts of up to five per cent, an end to overtime for nights, weekends and bank holidays, and reduced holiday leave.
The Herald reported last month that 16 hospitals in the South West – including Derriford – had banded together in a bid to drive down wages.
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The latest revelations suggest that up to 60,000 health professionals in the South West could be hit. Health chiefs are said to be working together to prevent being "singled out" and unable to take on the unions.
They believe that by co-operating they will be able to overcome an "extremely hostile" reaction, especially if they take the "last resort" of sacking all staff and re-engaging them on less favourable terms.
Jeannett Martin, director of the Royal College of Nursing in the South West, said: "If this proposal is implemented in the South West it will have serious implications for patient care."
And the British Medical Association (BMA) said doctors were concerned about the development of a pay cartel of NHS employers in the South West.
Ms Martin said: "It is really quite shocking that, at a time when the NHS is so strapped for cash, the trusts are ploughing £200,000 into a scheme to cut pay, terms and conditions for hard-working NHS staff.
"In addition, there will need to be significant internal human resources and financial resources to deliver this agenda.
"This is money that should be spent on improving patient care in the South West – not on a project that aims to leave staff working longer hours, with less annual leave and for a smaller pay packet.
"The history of the NHS has been littered with similar attempts to introduce local pay in the past and the employers have consistently been unable to deliver on this.
"The Government should be focusing on sustaining the morale of nurses, many of whom are working under extreme pressure.
"We believe morale and motivation across the NHS workforce could be further damaged by a move to local pay."
A BMA spokesman said: "Doctors raised concerns at the BMA's annual meeting about the potential development of a sizeable pay cartel of NHS employers in the South West of England.
"This is not how successful and sustainable efficiencies are going to be achieved. Effective recruitment, retention and movement of doctors is essential."
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "NHS providers have long had the power to employ staff on such terms that they consider appropriate.
"Employers are free to negotiate any changes to national agreements directly with staff locally or their representatives."
Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the cuts were a direct result of David Cameron's failure to honour his general election promise to protect spending on the NHS.
Comments
by Sinjis_Things
Thursday, July 19 2012, 4:58PM
“The people who work in the hospitals who deal with patient care and patients work very hard for not a great deal of pay and, no doubt, the NHS bosses get high salaries, gold plated pensions, company cars and lots of other perks. These bosses are the real drain on assets and should take a cut in their pay or even better go elsewhere to work and let someone more capable do the job.”
by PlimuffLad
Tuesday, July 17 2012, 12:11AM
“@notamistake
You clearly have no idea how much people are paid at PCC. Massive wages? Yeah, that applies to about 10 people out of 6500”
by jabbathebutt
Monday, July 16 2012, 11:47PM
“The good news is that foriegn aid for nuclear armed countries such as India (with a space programme to see if there is water on the moon) are "ringfenced ".... with your tax money .”
by sv1000spilot
Monday, July 16 2012, 8:25PM
“I would hate to work out how many hours of unpaid work we do in Derriford. Missed lunch and coffee breaks, late finishes and covering for sickness
Without these acts of goodwill patient care would suffer, but how much longer will it continue?
Cut 5% pay and remove unsocial hours payments and see how much goodwill is left......
Why not look at the real wastage caused by bad management?
Drains that keep blocking up causing sewage to flood into the operating theatres, causing delays and cancelations to operations
Getting outside consultants in to see where we could improve efficiency, even though we still haven't made the changes they recommended last time
Paying for staff to work overtime on weekends just because we can't get the work done during the week.”
by notamistake
Monday, July 16 2012, 6:16PM
“I'd rather pay money to these people; rather than to Plymouth city council and their massive wages for messing up our city and being corrupt! These people save lives - daily - and should be paid more than ANYONE who works for the council!”
by JRTmedic
Monday, July 16 2012, 4:23PM
“Registered Nurses employed as Staff nurses within the NHS "enjoy" salaries ranging from £21,176 to £27,625 on an eight point scale. (A gross basic hourly rate of some £10.83 to £13.90)
Any unsocial hours ( night/weekend work) is paid at a rate of "time plus 30%" for working unsocial hours on Saturdays and weekdays, and "time plus 60%" for Sundays and public holidays.
Overtime is not usually offered and if worked is rarely paid (or paid only at basic rate), staff instead are expected to take "time off" in lieu.
Those working in London also receive an additional allowance which is supposed to meet the addition cost of living in the Capital.
Therefore, if these proposals are enacted, these Staff Nurses, who form the bulk of the patient focussed Professional Nursing Workforce, would all be subject to a 5% reduction in their salary which together with the removal of unsocial hours payments would have a significant and detrimental effect on the financial well being of these vital health care professionals.
The effect on staff moral knowing that their highly paid and bonus grabbing "managers" are plotting against them can only be imagined.
I would urge everyone (you are all potential patients!) to write (or email) their MP deploring this ill thought out initiative.”
by bluebell2
Monday, July 16 2012, 3:13PM
“How about mp taking a wage cut the three stooges as well who are ruining this country with there fast cuts they have a b...dy nerve i think . bluebell”
by 147ref
Monday, July 16 2012, 12:27PM
“cut the managers pay first before the frontline staff”
by prophetofdoom
Monday, July 16 2012, 12:24PM
“I really feel for some of my former colleagues at Derriford. They have endured restructure after restructure, which has resulted in some staff losing there jobs and others be re-banded down to a lower grade. Oddly enough this never seemed to affect the more senior managers, just the people at the coal face.
The problem was always that the Agenda For Change deal was never going to be sustainable. Before AfC we used to get a standard of living rise but in an attempt to attract better staff to the NHS they brought in a pay band scheme whereby people would automatically get an annual increment (unless you very poor but the management are so weak I never knew anyone being denied their increment), plus the annual cost of living rise. This was great for the staff but at the time we did questiuoned the sustainability of the scheme. And so it has come to past that wage cost are now crippling the NHS, but unfortunately due to cronyism the managers appear to be unscathed.”
by TheRedeemer89
Monday, July 16 2012, 12:16PM
“@timplymouth
Competition doesn't automatically mean better pay rates. If a private company can get away with paying less for the labour they reduce their costs and therefore enjoy a higher profit margin which is what the private sector is all about. Seeing as it'll be hard for 60,000 people to refuse the terms and find another job in the medical field easily they'll be left with no choice but to accept the new terms because there's not much else out there at the moment. Also if one privately run company can get away doing it, it gives the green light to other companies to do the same. It's called collusion.”