A new deal for health staff

Tuesday afternoon at health conference saw a group of motions on professional and occupational issues. Top on the agenda was a motion calling for ‘A new deal for healthcare assistants’. It called on the health SGE to continue to build on the work of the highly successful Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign. The campaign focusses on winning significant sums of pack pay for members by fighting for rebanding for healthcare assistants (HCAs) at a local level. The motion, moved by Annette Heslop, calls for continued campaigning for proper career progression opportunities, better recognition and lobbying for a strategy to professionalise and regulate HCAs. Ms Heslop said: “Conference, we are the union of HCA’s. Where others talk, we deliver. Across the UK, thousands of HCA’s have taken industrial action to get rebanding.” But that is not the end of the campaign, she continued: “Now, band 2 health workers [as many HCAs are] are paid only 1 penny above the minimum wage. That is a disgrace. It is time for a new deal for HCAs.” A number of speakers told conference stories of their successful rebanding campaigns, including Jackie Lewis from Northern Care Alliance who said their campaign had now seen “a total of 2,688 people entitled to backpay, going back as far as April 2018. “But that’s only the start of it. There’s so much work you can do from this one campaign – the world’s our oyster.” A charter for change for admin staff Conference then turned its atte...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article News 2024 National Health Conference one team paramedics Source Type: news