HEADS UP
Leadership
Celebrating great NHS mentors
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The final straw
George Shepherd, MiP national officer (left) with Chris Birbeck.
MiP was pleased once again to sponsor the NHS Leadership regional awards for mentor/coach of the year to celebrate the great work being done in the NHS. The award in the East of England went to Chris Birbeck, head of quality improvement at Health Education England in the region. “Chris has extensive experience and is now applying this experience in teaching others to coach and mentor,” said the judges. “He has a strong sense of reflective practice and powerful outcomes have been delivered for his coachees.” After presenting the award, MiP national officer George Shepherd said: “I was delighted to present the award to Chris, a worthy winner. The NHS can be proud of its tradition of mentoring its staff and it can be proud of Chris and the other finalists in the East of England.” Chris and the other winners were automatically put forward for the national awards which will be announced at a ceremony at the end of March.
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healthcare manager | issue 25 | spring 2015
Anger doesn’t come close to describing my reaction to the government’s pay offer for staff on Agenda for Change in England. Speaking as a 36year veteran of Family Health Services and Primary Care Support, this really is the last straw. The government has messed the service about for nearly two years. Firstly, by “lifting and shifting” us reluctantly into NHS England because they did not know what else to do. Only then to immediately label us with an “affected by change” tag. This was more burden than boon, as it created much uncertainty and anxiety but was insufficient to allow us to access jobs in the same manner as PCT/SHA colleagues labelled “at risk”. While we were in limbo, NHS England wasted vast amounts of time and resources asking the service to look at an “at scale” provider option, only to accept an unsolicited proposal from the commercial sector. Only then to get caught out by their poor judgement and their own lawyers, who advised it would be more prudent if the service were to go out to national procurement. Suffice to say, during all this time, PCT/SHA and Area Team staff were able to access the full range of “at risk” benefits: one month’s pay
for each year of service up to a maximum 24 months and, if aged over 50, allowed to draw their pension unabated. After dragging PCS staff left, right and centre for nearly two years, NHS England now wish to move the goal posts… off the darn pitch! This surely cannot be morally or legally upheld. I have paid my UNISON/MiP subs for longer than I care to remember. I don’t believe I have ever called upon your support. Well I am now. I hope MiP come out all guns blazing. I find it impossible to believe that, through absolutely no fault of our own, PCS Agenda for Change officers are being so unfairly and unjustly treated. There must surely be an acceptable middle ground whereby an appropriate solution can be reached. Pay rises arbitrarily cut at random spine points; non-consolidated pay rises; increased pension contributions with nil return; reduced redundancy payments – these will all largely impact on those left behind by the recent change programmes due to no fault of their own. Needless to say, this member rejects this insult of an offer. In fact, I would welcome, on behalf of MiP members in PCS, an individually-focused opinion on the legality of this position and any challenges that can be made against it.
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