2. The pace of activity among workplace representatives, Regional and Country teams and Occupational Advisory Committees over the last year is remarkable. Tremendous effort continues in our collective work to get the best range of Agenda for Change (AfC) Profiles out to the service to test at the 12 Early Implementer (EI) sites.
3. The complex and diverse professional roles of Amicus members means that this challenging task has the highest priority and rightly so. Attached is a status report of this work, which shows that where Profiles have been signed off our expectation is that almost all members will gain in the transition to AfC. This is if our expectations of matching are met.
4. Amicus members voted overwhelmingly by almost 79% to test AfC in the EI sites before making their final decision on this new national pay system.
6. 6,440 new members were recruited in 2002, Net growth after losses were 3,425 in 2002 a big increase on the previous year. From January to August 2003 5,422 new members were recruited, making a net growth after losses of 2,582. All sections of membership are steadily increasing in numbers of members and the association agreement with the National Association of Theatre Nurses has been a notable recruitment success.
8. Arrangements to support workplace representatives are led by the Regional and Country teams. A lesson from the EI sites is that a strategy to ensure adequate back-fill is essential if AfC is to be rolled out across the UK. Amicus, with the backing of other unions is set to discuss this specific issue with Ministers as advised by the ADC motion. In the meantime we have distributed the model facilities agreement to Regional and Country Lead Officials that states the DoH and unions expectations.
9. Reps Direct is produced on a flexible basis and is transforming into a tool that can be used for notice boards. In August 2003 the new health sector website was launched. Occupational Advisory Committee (OAC) Secretaries and Regional and Country Lead Officials are all being trained to add news to the web. This links into a strategy that aims to improve Amicus profile externally.
10. The structure document for the Health Sector, agreed by the NAC, will be implemented in line with the requirements of the Amicus Rules backed by members at the Rules Conference, June 2003. Rule 4(ii) enables the Health Sector structure reflect the diversity of its component parts. Potential merger partners and organisations seeking Association Agreements continue to watch with interest how the new industrial structure emerges in the new union.
11. AfC has galvanised two groups of members. Estates Officers have revitalised the OAC and Professions Complementary to Dentistry have formed an OAC with the result of including dental nurses in discussions on AfC and the KSF.
12. The Constitution of the Staff Side of the new NHS Staff Council is agreed and Amicus holds three seats.
14. Amicus is at the heart of negotiations on AfC and whenever necessary convenes bilateral discussions with DoH officials.
15. The excellent standard of access to the Parliamentary Health team and their advisors is an extremely valuable asset. Meetings to discuss Foundation Hospitals have not resulted in the climb down called for in Conference Policy. Amicus has however sought agreement on workforce issues that locks Foundation Hospitals into AfC, will amend relevant legislation to ensure Foundation Hospitals remain in the NHS Pension Scheme and enable access to the National Litigation Authority's services. The Health Sector team's work programme includes a campaign briefing on Foundation Hospitals.
16. Other issues covered in meetings with Ministers include seeking progress with improvements to maternity, paternity and adoptive leave, concerns about Community Health Council staff and additionally with the DTI, Lord Sainsbury, who met representatives of the Medical Research Council.
17. The ease of access to the Parliamentary Health team is a reflection of the outstanding level of support by the union's Policy Unit.
19. Work is underway to help co-ordinate the Amicus National Strategy Group covering the EI sites. A DoH representative and Best Practice Facilitator also attended the first meeting. The hot issues include aspects of the draft Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook for example on-call. These issues, identified by our workplace representatives, are being fed back into the negotiating process at national level. The Amicus team of organisers is briefed to support EI sites and additional representatives are being recruited, some within the specific remit of AfC Representatives.
20. The Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) work in being developed and our collective work will be helped by the appointment of two Health Sector Learning Representatives as pilots in the North East and Eastern Regions. A third vacancy will be re-advertised.
22. The driver for change is establishing a pay system free from gender bias. Amicus has been actively working with the DoH on monitoring tools that will assess the outcomes from EI sites including analysis on impact by gender and ethnicity.
24. The new 8-grade structure has been proven to be inadequate in relation to one profile identified by Amicus. This has resulted in acceptance that an additional Band will be required. EI's implementation of Long term Recruitment and Retention payments, which provide salaries at least as good as present, are causing some difficulties and this is being monitored. These payments are treated as salary so future increases will apply and they will be pensionable, however at least one professional group, pharmacy, is seeking a national rate for RRP.
25. Significant grading victories have been achieved by school nurses, nursery nurses, community practitioner mental health nurses and speech and language therapy assistants. Amicus members, representatives and officials work to insist on the proper allocation of grade to posts has averted grade drift seen in other professions.
27. All NHS staff received the same general annual uplift of 3.255%.
29. Amicus is fully involved in consultation and will continue to report on the Review to workplace representatives using Reps Direct. Amicus is seeking improvements to the existing scheme.
30. The NHS Confederation is leading the Review. Consultation has commenced with the NHS Confederation on a proposal that it expands its role more extensively to form what will in effect be an employer's body to conduct negotiations on pay and conditions of service.
32. The new national agreement to improve maternity, paternity and adoptive leave and pay has been agreed and will take effect from October 2003. Ministers and the DoH have further agreed to serious negotiations to introduce additional improvements with effect from October 2004. Amicus worked with the campaigning organisation Maternity Alliance who rewrote the maternity section introducing plain language and simplification as well as new and improved rights.
33. A feature of the new NHS Staff Council is the provision of sub-groups that includes Equality and Diversity. The Health Sector work programme for 2003 includes the publication of a Campaign Briefing on the Race Relations (Amendment) Act to check with workplace representatives their employer's legal compliance.
34. Amicus is also involved in an DoH workshop on Disability and our aim will be to inject the ethos and practical work of the Amicus project Disability Champions at Work.
36. Numerous groups with Amicus continue to seek state registration. The costs of registration to professionals working for the NHS are increasing. Amicus has set out to other unions an invitation to a joint campaign that will aim to build into health professionals pay the cost of registration. This will be within our evidence to the Pay Review Body and an issue that we intend raising again with Ministers. The Amicus Yellow Card campaign during the HPC consultation on registration fees succeeded in getting the fee down below the suggested lowest level and this campaign needs to be refreshed and widened to include other regulatory bodies.
38. As Head of Health from June 2003 I have sought different ways to listen to members and have visited each Region and Country. These meetings, and those with occupational advisories and professional groups, have provided me with invaluable insight into the issues that concern our membership and why. This report will be the foundation of the report to the new union's first health sector conference in 2004. In concluding may I wish my predecessor, Roger Spiller, a happy and long retirement. I would also like to thank all the workplace representatives, Regional and Occupational teams, officials and the national team for unstinting service in support of our members. My work over the past three months has been greatly assisted by the help and encouragement of the NAC Chair, David Houliston.