Tuesday 21 September at 2pm,
Monet Room, St Clements Hospital, Ipswich

      Present:  Arthur White, Cliff Dawson, Barbara Gutowski, Julie Cracknell, Margarita England, Margaret Goddard, Ian Talbot, Judith Wilson, Ken Abbott, Philip Bloyce (Chair), and Annette Petty (Minutes)

Apologies:  Wendy Arbon, Ray Hill, Paul Taylor, Steve Cook and Julie Harrison

1.  Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes of the last meeting held on 17 August 2004 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

2.   Matters Arising

a)   Page 1.2a - Mark Hillis’ nomination was put on hold until the October meeting due to discrepancies which hopefully will be cleared up soon. Annette will contact Mark by letter.
Action - Annette Petty

b)   Page 1.2e - The independent branch panel set up last month has recommended a closed ballot for a Stewards election process in respect of the hotel services in Felixstowe. The returned votes should be counted on Monday 4 October and the result then made known.

c)   Page 1.2f - Ian will be contacting Julie Todd at Hartismere to find out the future position of Hartismere Hospital. This matter will be carried forward to the October meeting.

d)   Page 2.3c - A letter of thanks was received on 15th September by the office from the individual member who secured a branch sponsorship for education worth £150.

e)   Page 2.3e - The first sentence of Steve Cook’s report should be removed and changed to the fact that with the current management process, jobs are being put at risk locally due to redeployment issues and staff/unions are not being notified.

f)    Page 2.3f - Despite local posters being displayed in Suffolk Patient Services, no potential H&S representatives have come forward. Update at the October meeting.

g)   Page 3.3g - Philip will be arranging a convenient date/time with Barbara Gutowski to arrange a meeting with the staff at Whitehouse Road, concerning AfC.

h)   Page 3.4a - Ray Hill attended the Regional Health Committee Special meeting on 1st September in London and will report at the October Branch Meeting.
Action - Ray Hill

i)    Page 3.4c - The H&S Branch Meeting was held on 9th September at Lothingland. Unfortunately, there are no delegates interested in attending the H&S Seminar in Cambridge on 1st and 2nd October.

j)    Page 3.4d - Ian met with Cheryl Godber on 13th September to discuss further the branch recruitment initiatives for the October campaign. Nationally, there will be a lot of advertising on the TV/Radio/Magazines/Newspapers during October to encourage a “younger approach” membership base.

A Branch Surgery was arranged in September for St Clements Hospital members, but unfortunately generated no interest. However, more surgeries have been organised at other locations which may generate more interest than in Ipswich. These include, Hartismere, Felixstowe and Newmarket. An update for subsequent meetings will be announced at a later date.

The Road Shows have been organised in seven sites across the County as part of the Recruitment Plan for the Branch by UNISON/Britannia who are also running another Prize Draw. Other ideas include recruitment forms being sent out with monthly salary slips. Ian will be contacting Mike Stevens in Payroll services. The Branch banner stand also requires to be chased up following the agreed design with the company.
Action - Ian Talbot

k)   Page 3.4e - Winning in the Organised Workplace Course (WOW) will take place on Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th September at the Bury Regional Office. There are currently only 6 representatives attending WOW, which is disappointing as the course is designed to generate organisation for individual needs, better branch/member understanding and more enthusiasm.

The H&S Training Day will take place on Monday 11th October from 10 am to 4.30pm at Lothingland. Annette has received confirmation from most branch H&S representatives and will chase the odd straggler.
Action - Annette Petty

l)    Page 4.5b - “Out in UNISON” publication. Ian will be contacting Region to have this item brought to the next Regional Council Meeting.

3.  Urgent Correspondence

a)   Communications
A discussion took place in respect of staff employed by SMHP NHS Trust, regarding the jobs “at risk” register as the branch is not being informed by Human Resources. Management are aware in many cases that most staff would be UNISON members, but we are still not being informed. A letter will be sent in the next day or two to Margaret Little, Adult Mental Health Manager, from Steve Cook and Gordon Morris to this effect and copied to the Suffolk Mental Health representatives in the Ipswich area. A generic letter will also be sent out to all the Chief Executive’s and Managers involved with the management of the “at risk register”. Ian will also check the current legislation on this matter.
Action - Ian Talbot

A meeting will be held on 29th September, 10am, Hadleigh Health Centre to start the first East System Forum. Three of the Suffolk Primary Care Trusts, (Coastal, Central & Ipswich) will be discussing working together and sharing certain resources in a bid to reduce overspending and improve local services.

b)   New Stewards
Annette has contacted John Cripps by letter in respect of his nomination for Steward for the Branch. He will be attending the October meeting following an extended holiday. John has also been nominated for an AfC representative for one of the Finance Working Groups. Annette will write to Avril Wright, Director of Human Resources/Suffolk Support Services SMHP NHS Trust.
Action - Annette Petty

Mark Hillis
Due to an oversight of a situation regarding employer changes, Mark’s nomination will be ratified when he attends the October meeting.

c)   Diaries 2005
The Branch feels that diaries, currently priced at £1.60 each, are becoming more expensive each year when they are ordered. Diaries are not charged to the individual members unlike many Branches which do. In general, there are less orders being processed nationally, and therefore less discounts are given. The Branch has approached Trendex, based on the Hadleigh Road Industrial Estate in Ipswich for a quote, and hopefully, this will be cheaper locally. A maximum spend for the Branch this year will be £2,000 which will only purchase 1000 diaries. Annette will contact those representatives not present for their personal desk diary/wall planner for 2005.

d)   Frizzell Prize Draw
Frizzell are running two six monthly prize draws in January/July 2005. Prize Draw leaflets should be available at the next meeting and representatives will be asked to kindly distribute these to their members.
Action - Annette Petty

e)   Steward/officer reports
Arthur White – Patrick Stead
Arthur has sent an E-mail to the Chief Executive at Waveney Primary Care Trust in respect of the date for re-opening Patrick Stead Hospital following re-decoration. As yet, no date has been given as there is a lack of certain trained staff on site making it impossible to re-open until the posts are filled. The local community are aware that the hospital has been closed for 4-5 weeks, whilst works have been carried out. Various suggestions were discussed and possible actions may be taken up should the problem persist.
Possible Action - Ian Talbot and Arthur White

4.   AOB

Agenda for Change - update
SMHP NHS Trust:
Philip informed the meeting that there has been no real progress with the Trust since last month. Diana Brown, Project Lead on AfC, has apparently written to managers recently with the latest information and updates including guidelines to complete job descriptions. It is feared some of the contents of this correspondence may not have been interpreted correctly in some areas which is having an adverse affect with some members who feel they are being pushed into signing job descriptions which is not reflective of the work done possibly done in an effort to save money. Philip is unaware of the letter contents and will be contacting Diana Brown in due course.
Like Suffolk HealthCare, Diana Brown, the Project Lead on AfC has also given a clear message to staff saying if both sides cannot agree on a job Description, then the staff and management need to talk and resolve the situation. Philip, who has already reached an audience of over 400 staff Countywide during June/July this year on AfC will take these issues to the next SMHP Trust Council which takes place on Wednesday, 6th October in the Board Room, Suffolk House.
Information about a 30% backfill for AfC volunteers wishing to sit on the panels has also been sent out which was jointly issued with Philip.
Judith Wilson had concerns that some of her colleagues were having job descriptions sent back as they were either not signed or not being agreed with certain managers. Philip reiterated that if staff can not agree job descriptions they should not sign them. There are also other issues around staff being bullied into signing job descriptions which is unacceptable. Ian has also been receiving complaints from members regarding signing J/D under duress. So far, two members have been asked to complete a UNISON case form should they wish to make official complaints.

PCT NHS:
The five Primary Care Trust’s met last week and are working together to resolve issues around D & E Grade job families. For example, if there are D & E Grade nurses one of the E Grade nurse job description match process is carried out and that job description will be applied to all the E Grades throughout the PCT’s. (e.g. there may be up to 300 E Grades). Generally, the Primary Care Trusts are moving ahead at a steady pace despite there being plenty of extra work involved. It is also worth mentioning, managers in the West are currently using the guidelines.

Summing up AfC:
AfC affects over 1.5 million health workers in the UK and now things are moving swiftly towards UNISON’s national ballot in early November. Unsocial hour agreements have now been sorted out nationally after pressure from the unions and have now reverted back to the Whitley Council Rates, which effectively means enhancements will remain the same for all staff and nearly everybody will get even more holiday as part of the deal. Due to this and a standardisation of overtime rates, those members in full time substantive posts who also work pool shifts under an additional contact, would be well advised to return it together with a letter to the employer, dismissing the pool contract. This would have the immediate effect with the individual being paid time and a half for overtime worked compared to plain time payment under pool contract.

Lunch & Rest Breaks
Ian and Philip will be organising posters reminding staff to take regular official lunch/tea breaks at work. Posters will be circulated in December with the common theme “local take a break month”
Action - Ian Talbot and Philip Bloyce

Date/Time Next Meeting

The next meeting takes place on Tuesday, 19th October, 2pm, Small Meeting Room, Suffolk House (following in-house training from 9.30am to 1pm, same place “Grievances and Case Forms” facilitated by Cheryl Godber, Regional Organiser.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 4pm.

Any agenda items to be forwarded to Annette a week prior to the meeting.                                                                                Dates and times for all 2004 meetings can be found here