By Harry Mottram: The BBC’s West of England health correspondent Matthew Hill has reported on the growing anger amongst health workers in Bath and Wiltshire at plans by management to outsource their pay. He reported that their trade union Unison had ‘warned some members may become less willing to take extra shifts, raising concerns about staffing levels and pressure on frontline services and thus damaging the care of patients due to lack of staff.’ Matthew Hill added: “From 1 August, temporary staff shifts across the Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire hospital group will be managed by Pulse, part of the Acacium Group.”
He reported that the Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire Hospitals Group (BSW) said: “It will make booking shifts much more streamlined and accessible which, in turn, will help to increase fill rates and support us in maintaining safe high-quality patient care.” However the trade union feels that a private company running the way ancillary and bank staff are employed and paid will lead to fewer staff willing to work extra shifts and the long term impact of retaining staff.
Baz Harding, from the RUH branch of UNISON said: “Corridor care happens in all hospitals and it does happen here unfortunately so having a private company run our bank system, we are not going to have the resilience or the staff with staff memory or hospital memory to actually pick up those shifts.”
James Garrett for Somerset Confidential wrote: “The NHS Trust which runs the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath is being referred to the Secretary of State for Health for a second time over its controversial plan to save millions of pounds later this summer by privatising the jobs of hundreds of clinical and support staff. Members of Bath & North-East Somerset (B&NES) Council have renewed a protest which was first made on 22 May. They also criticised the trust for not consulting formally with them over plans for outsourcing the jobs of ‘bank’ staff, who fill shifts at short notice, avoiding the need to employ more expensive agency workers.”
The journalist added: “Health service campaigner Nicola James, a former RUH governor, told the meeting of B&NES’ health and wellbeing scrutiny committee on 22 June that the new employer, Pulse, would make pension contributions to staff of six per cent, compared with the 23.7 per cent they currently receive as NHS employees.”
The trade union Unite has concerns over the financial position of Acacium Group, the holding company for Pulse who will take on the work of paying the staff.
Matthew Hill also reported that the BSW Group said the changes would create a single staffing service across the three trusts.
His report continues: A spokesperson said the new arrangements would allow workers to access a wider range of shifts across multiple locations and make booking work “more streamlined and accessible”. They added that “full financial due diligence” carried out before the contract was awarded. The group said the changes would help increase staffing fill rates and support patient care. It said that said most bank workers also held permanent NHS contracts and would continue to receive NHS pension benefits through those roles. The spokesperson added: “However, we understand that some workers may find these changes unsettling and we are supporting staff through this transition. “We also encourage staff, where possible, to apply for suitable substantive positions as they become available.” The hospitals group said move was expected to deliver nearly £5m in savings, helping it meet a wider financial improvement target of £117m. It also rejected suggestions that patient services would be affected. “The move to a single outsourced temporary staffing service will not vary the provision of service for patients,” the spokesperson said. The group said the Department of Health and Social Care had confirmed the decision was not a proposal to change NHS services.
Bath Voice and Local Democracy Reporters
The journalists are funded by the BBC as part of its latest Charter commitment, but are employed by regional news organisations. A total of 165 reporters are allocated to news organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland including Bath Voice. These organisations range from television and radio stations to online media companies and established regional newspaper groups. Local Democracy Reporters cover top-tier local authorities, second-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
Bath Voice Monthly Newspaper is distributed free to thousands of homes and some supermarkets – distributed from the first of the month. Harry Mottram is the News Editor
Email him at news@bathvoice.co.uk Bath website: https://bathvoice.co.uk/news/
Bath Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/bdtf2kep Also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bath_voice And Bluesky @bathvoicenews.bsky.social And also on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/harrymottram6/
Harry Mottram is a freelance journalist has his own website with more stories on a variety of subjects at https://www.harrymottram.co.uk/ and has a strong social media presence – check out his work.
Read the newspaper online at :https://issuu.com/bathvoice
To advertise to thousands of Bathonians call Shaun on 07540 383870 or email him on sales@bathvoice.co.uk