Op theatre staff look to ballot over pay

Jan 22 2008 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

A GROUP of NHS staff could be balloted for industrial action because they are owed up to £20,000 each by their employers.

About 20 operating department practitioners at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, have not received any unsocial hours payments from Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust for almost two years.

The payments are made as part of the new Agenda for Change pay structure, for working unsocial hours, such as weekends, night shifts and public holidays.

It is understood that the staff members, who are part of the anaesthetics team in the hospital’s main theatre, are owed between £10,000 and £20,000 each – rising by about £500 a month.

Unison, which represents the staff members, is now preparing ballot papers for a vote on indust- rial action if the matter is not resolved.

But despite the NHS Staff Council, which operates the new pay system, agreeing that the practitioners are entitled to the pay, Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust has yet to make the money available.

A letter from the NHS Staff Council is expected to be discussed at the meeting of the Welsh Partnership Forum next month.

Dave Galligan, head of health for Unison in Wales, said, “The staff have been trying to resolve this issue for 23 months and have been extremely patient.

“The position is spelled out by the UK council as non-negotiable. The fact the trust is ignoring this strikes us as high-risk strategy as there is an inevitability there will be some form of reaction or backlash from staff.

“If the meeting affirms what the staff council has said and the trust doesn’t adopt it, then that makes a mockery of the whole process.

“We are currently at the stage of preparing for a ballot for industrial action.”

The operating department practitioners are an essential part of the anaesthetics team, without which planned and emergency surgery could not happen.

They work with surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre nurses to help ensure every operation is as safe and effective as possible.

Agenda for Change, which applies to the majority of NHS staff, was introduced in October 2004 in a bid to modernise pay and working conditions.

Unsocial hours payments for working on Saturdays and week nights range from time plus 30%, to time plus 50%. Staff who are entitled to the extra money for working on Sundays and public holidays are paid from time plus 60% to double time.

There have been problems implementing Agenda for Change since its introduction in Wales – unions have blamed delays in switching staff over onto the new scheme for plummeting morale and there have been allegations some staff have not received up to three years’ worth of back pay.

And some of the deficits run up by NHS trusts in Wales have been blamed on shortfalls in funding for Agenda for Change.

A spokesman for Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust said, “The letter from the NHS Staff Council will be discussed at the next meeting of the All Wales Partnership Forum who will clarify how this relates to all-Wales guidance.

“We fully appreciate the concern of staff. However, this is a national issue and we have to wait until clarification is received as to whether the NHS Staff Council response upholds the all-Wales guidance used by trusts.

“Once the outcome of this meeting is known, we will review our position and communicate directly with staff.”