{"id":973,"date":"2012-05-10T00:23:12","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T23:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bsb.lasunison.com\/?p=973"},"modified":"2012-05-10T08:58:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T07:58:40","slug":"fighting-for-a-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/?p=973","title":{"rendered":"Fighting For A Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been asked if I and the union believe that A&E Support Staff are ‘Front-line’.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was after we complained about\u00c2\u00a0a trial being run with A&E Support Staff working with Paramedics. We were prepared to lodge a dispute if the trial was not stopped.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The trial has been stopped<\/strong><\/p>\n

The answer, to be very clear,\u00c2\u00a0is that\u00c2\u00a0A&E Support Staff are Front-Line. There will be no argument from me or the union over that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact Unison believes all staff within London Ambulance Service are front line. Everyone contributes to patient care, whatever they do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The question was asked of me because I expect\u00c2\u00a0some staff (particularly the staff who volunteered for the trial) thought that we opposed the\u00c2\u00a0running of it\u00c2\u00a0on the basis that\u00c2\u00a0we\u00c2\u00a0believed that the\u00c2\u00a0opposite was true.<\/strong><\/p>\n

T<\/strong>hat is not, and was never,\u00c2\u00a0the issue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The issue (and this is important)\u00c2\u00a0is that in this time of financial pressure, our Service, along with a number of other Services it has to be said, are willing to treat some Front-Line staff differently from others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not just treat them differently throughout the period of financial pressure until funding is restored, but treat them differently for ever.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It has to be\u00c2\u00a0accepted that the role of A&E Support has been difficult since the grade was jointly agreed with management. That said, however, it was never brought in\u00c2\u00a0so that staff would\u00c2\u00a0stay on Band 3 while at the same time, in our view,\u00c2\u00a0undermining the spirit of Agenda for Change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unison played a major\u00c2\u00a0part in getting\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0role of\u00c2\u00a0A&E Support into the Service.\u00c2\u00a0We acted quickly\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0safeguard the jobs of Patient Transport Staff who had lost their contract to private companies\u00c2\u00a0at that time and keep them within the LAS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course at that time we still had Technicians (or rather the role of technicians in the National Handbook) and there was a clear career pathway for\u00c2\u00a0A&E Support staff to progress. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact it was a clear pathway from Patient Transport up to A&E Support,\u00c2\u00a0on\u00c2\u00a0to Technician and then Paramedic. <\/strong><\/p>\n

A stepping stone for staff.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the role of Technician was withdrawn (on a national level), that is when the problem started.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A&E Support staff were stuck! Couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t move forward, couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go back.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So by doing the right thing, in good faith, in the past, both management and the union have been confronted with, through no fault of our own, a problem in the present. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The gap between A&E Support and Paramedic is now huge (both in clinical and Pay Band terms)\u00c2\u00a0and a lot of staff find it impossible to bridge that gap. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Add to that the lack of opportunity because of the millions of pounds of funding being withdrawn from the Service, and you can see why we have a problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Something had to give.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Simply putting\u00c2\u00a0A&E Support Staff\u00c2\u00a0on an ambulance with a Paramedic is not the answer though. That is\u00c2\u00a0unless it is accompanied with a proper agreed structure to allow\u00c2\u00a0staff to move up the pay spines and move between Agenda for Change Pay\u00c2\u00a0Bands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is not the case at this moment.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I understand that pay is not always everything, and that job satisfaction plays a vital role, h<\/strong>owever,\u00c2\u00a0in my opinion, the outcome of the trial (as it stood) would have seen\u00c2\u00a0a large group of staff being locked into Band 3, with the key thrown away, while being asked to do a job that is currently\u00c2\u00a0done at Band 4 and Band 5 level. <\/strong><\/p>\n

This is exploitation, not career progression.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What sort of Service do we want? Even in times of economic hardship surely we should give hope\u00c2\u00a0for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unison supports the apprenticeship approach.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A&E Support Staff working with a Paramedic should be similar to an apprentice in industry. Work with a paramedic and get training on and off the job. <\/strong><\/p>\n

An apprentice with a clear view of the future and a clear understanding of where\u00c2\u00a0they will be (regarding pay and pay bands) at the end of\u00c2\u00a0the apprenticeship (however long that may be, depending on what is agreed).<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are some\u00c2\u00a0things that\u00c2\u00a0need to be finalised but that said,\u00c2\u00a0I am cautiously optimistic about\u00c2\u00a0the Apprentice Paramedic Programme that is\u00c2\u00a0being\u00c2\u00a0introduced within the Service.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although the tuition fee issue is disappointing (we will continue to highlight this and hopefully influence a change), this is a step forward at this time\u00c2\u00a0and may well be the basis for a proper career progression agreement for A&E Support Staff that want it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unison Senior Representatives have worked hard with management over this in a difficult political and\u00c2\u00a0financial environment,\u00c2\u00a0and I do really hope it is the start of positive change and opportunity\u00c2\u00a0in our Service.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is early days of course. We hope to have proper support mechanisms in place for staff: reasonable study time agreements: financial advice\/support: mentoring commitments etc, but, stagnation of a vital ambulance role is not an option for us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wouldn’t say that the\u00c2\u00a0Apprentice Paramedic Programme is the be all\u00c2\u00a0and end all within the operational part of our Service, but, in the face of\u00c2\u00a0a shrinking ( some would say sinking) National Health Service, an anti Public Sector Coalition and aggressive private ambulance companies, it may well turn out to be a life jacket for a lot of staff. <\/strong><\/p>\n

We still believe that A&E Support Staff deserve better recognition and reward and will continue to pursue that.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a responsibility to safeguard the professional integrity of all staff so that we can protect our national agreements on pay, and not allow a race to the bottom.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So just to repeat for clarity: we are not against A&E Support staff working with a paramedic in principle but, as I have stated, it has to be within agreed structures and outcomes. <\/strong><\/p>\n

We also\u00c2\u00a0do not oppose a trial in principle as long as it is conducted under jointly agreed Terms of Reference with a jointly agreed evaluation. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Any trial, however, cannot be seen, or conducted,\u00c2\u00a0in isolation of career and pay band progression.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We will meet with management over this very soon and once again will press for what we believe is right for staff, the Service, and, importantly, the patient and people of London.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u00c2\u00a0are all entitled to a future.<\/strong><\/p>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Information of all issues can be found elsewhere on our website.<\/strong><\/p>\n

___________________<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are reading this, work for the London Ambulance Service or are eligible to join, and are not yet a member of UNISON Join Today!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>I Am Frontline You Are Frontline We Are All Frontline<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

We are stronger together. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Eric Roberts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Branch Secretary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been asked if I and the union believe that A&E Support Staff are ‘Front-line’. This was after we complained about\u00c2\u00a0a trial being run with A&E Support Staff working with Paramedics. We were prepared to lodge a dispute if the trial was not stopped. The trial has been stopped<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=973"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":977,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973\/revisions\/977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}