TUESDAY 19 August 2003 @ 1:00 PM IN THE PICASSO ROOM St CLEMENTS HOSPITAL

      Present: Philip Bloyce (Chair), Ian Talbot, Geoff Reason, Ted Moore, Annette Petty (Minutes), Pat Burgess, Arthur White,             Cliff Dawson, Andy Willcox, Ray Hill, David Edginton and Paul Taylor

      Apologies: Judith Wilson, Matthew Robinson, Marilyn Wright, Glyn Reynolds, Georgia Murray, Noel Maher, Liz Potter, Jamie Starling and Sandra Smith

1.   Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 15 July were agreed as a true and accurate record.

2.   Matters Arising

a)   Page 1 2.a                                                                                                                                                                                          No decision made by member of staff at Aldeburgh to rejoin Unison but another member of staff has joined.

b)   Page 1 2.e                                                                                                                                                                                  Annette has received information from Suffolk Carers which will be passed on to Judith Wilson and other stewards.

c)   Page 3 6.e                                                                                                                                                                                          Pat reported that the 25 staff at Aldeburgh Hospital are in fear of their salaries being reduced before the new pay scheme comes into effect (Agenda for Change). Under pay protection this is unlikely to occur. There is unrest amongst staff members in respect of those staff undertaking NVQ training who are taken off the wards leaving reduced levels of staff. No feedback so far regarding the nurse’s reduced working hours at the Doctors Surgery. The current status with the A4C contracts is that a Trust Contract has to be offered to transfer to A4C.  Staff do not have to transfer over, it is a one direction choice. In National Terms the 2^nd ballot will be held May 2004 and, if agreed the whole contract will be looked at. Harmonising onto Whitley is the route currently being taken with contracts and harmonisation should be resisted until A4C comes into effect.

3.  Presentation by David Kitchen of Frizzell Financial Services

Frizzell Financial Services                                                                                                                                                                 David was welcomed into the meeting and gave a short presentation on the services that Frizzell can offer members including Car Insurance (currently 120,000 Policy Holders) a 10-15% discount is offered to Unison members, Personal Loans and Independent Financial Advice.

4.   Urgent Correspondence

a)   Branch Education Officer                                                                                                                                                              Marilyn Wright is leaving the Trust and a farewell party is being held on 28 August at 3pm, Rembrant Room, SCH. All staff are welcome to attend and a card/collection is in Reception. She has been on secondment working on Health Service Learning Accounts which has come to an end. She may be working on some short term Unison projects - watch this space!

b)   Affiliations                                                                                                                                                                                      Trade Union Friends of Searchlight - involved with the development of the British National Party seats in the North West UK. Our affiliation has lapsed and the meeting decided not to renew. Ipswich Labour Party - Our £1600 annual affiliation is due Autumn 2003. The Branch gets no return on its affiliation, the meeting strongly disagreed with the local MP, Chris Mole in favour with Foundation Hospitals, it was decided to sever ties with the party and look at another Labour Party within Suffolk which is more suitable for our Branch. Ian to write discontinuing our affiliation giving our reasons. The meeting decided to discontinue affiliating to Socialist Health and Trade Union Friends of Palestine - Ian to write and agreed that the Branch should affiliate to Amnesty International (human rights). The meeting agreed to have a bi-monthly affiliation item on the Agenda to look at more “home borne” charities within Suffolk/UK. The Branch will be saving approximately £2000 per year, the meeting discussed ideas to help the members with this fund. It was agreed that our members should be “thanked” for being members and Christmas Parties for Unison Members only  could be arranged - stewards/reps to initiate and report back at the 21 October meeting so that we can assess how many/costs involved. Other ideas included investing more money into training for reps and bi-monthly training courses.

5.   Stewards/Officer Reports

a)   Arthur White                                                                                                                                                                                  Arthur reported that Nursing Assistant’s at Patrick Stead who have completed their NVQ3 are not being paid Grade B, which goes back to local negotiations. Under AfC HCA’s will do well. It was decided that stewards should report back similar problems encountered in their constituencies at the October meeting and an Action Plan to be implemented. A conference for HCA’s is being held on 16 September at St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust - contact Annette for further details. Geoff to send information on HCA’s grading/NVQ training to Annette to be linked with the recruitment campaign coming up in September at Suffolk College

b)   Cliff Dawson/Paul Taylor                                                                                                                                                               Sleep-ins. No further progress has been made. They are concerned that sleep-ins will become absolute in April 2004 and no staff will be available to cover shifts. Finance is the problem which is delaying resolving the situation. Under A4C sleep-ins will be a local issue. At present sleep-in hours are 2330 - 0700 and Walker Close are looking at one sleep in per week.  At present staff work an average of three sleep-ins per fortnight. The sleep-in issue was first raised on 6 May - Paul/Cliff to refer the matter to Ian to try and speed up a resolution to this problem. The bank/overtime/agency is for all additional hours not just sleep-ins.

6.  Conference Feedback – National Delegate Conference Brighton  

      Deferred to September meeting as Ray’s PC is still being rebuilt! Coastal PCT passed their Improving Working Lives assessment and are now a pilot site for Practice Plus. The next coastal PCT IWL meeting is in October.

7.   AOB

a)   Activist Training Event - 6 October Cambridge Professional Development Centre                                                                               At present Ian Talbot and Georgia Murray are attending.

b)   Membership                                                                                                                                                                                        16 New Members so far for August. In 2002 the Region & Health had a net increase of 10% of new members but it is down for 2003.

c)   Student Nurse Intake                                                                                                                                                                  Autumn 2003 Suffolk College, 17/18 September and 6 October. Ian Talbot is providing assistance on 17/18 September, Ray Hill on 17 September, and Philip Bloyce on 18 September. Annette to email stewards/reps for additional assistance and for 6 October Induction Session and request Student Nurse Packs from Debbie Smith/times.

d)   Branch Training Day on Recruitment                                                                                                                                           Annette to organise for end October and to invite Debbie Smith from Region to attend. A Recruitment Campaign will be held Nov - Jan 2004 Annette to organise publicity material (document folders/key fobs/new membership application packs).

8.      Date/time of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 16 September at 1pm, Picasso Room, SCH - Wendy  Sealy from Britannia Building Society will be attending to give a presentation on the benefits of Britannia for Unison Members.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 2.45pm.

Apologies received for September's meeting from Cliff Dawson, Andy Willcox and Pat Burgess

Lunch is again provided