Operational Redesign

Dear Member,

Since the Mass meeting last week UNISON Yorkshire Ambulance Branch committee has met with the Trusts senior management team and issued the demands unanimously mandated by members.

UNISON members made it clear that negotiations had been exhausted and unless the demands were met they would be willing to take industrial action. Following lively discussions at the meeting members unanimously voted for the branch to demand the following, in order to avert the need for industrial action.

1. Meal Breaks – agree changes to the meal break windows, on both the 10 and 12 hour rotas as follows. Return to the original windows on 10hr rotas, to be completed between the 4^th and 6^th hour. Have the option of two breaks on a 12hr shift, 30 and 15mins to be taken between the 3^rd and 5^th hour and the 8^th and 10^th hour, or one 45min break to be completed within the 4^th and 6^th hour.

UNISON can now report that the Trust has agreed to move the Meal Break windows on both 10 and 12 hour shifts to between the 4^th and 6^th hour, within which the meal break must be complete. To clarify, no member can start a break before the 4^th hour and must have completed the break before the 6^th, the policy still allows for subsistence payments for meal breaks outside of the agreed window. During the meal break window crews will be returned for meal break unless issued with a potentially life threatening call, defined and agreed as being Red 1, Red 2, maternities, fitting’s and RTCs.

2. End of Shift Overtime – to develop and implement a policy that protects crews, vehicles will be returned to base 60 minutes prior to the end of the shift and during the last 45 minute would only respond to a confirmed red 1 & 2, and to send the most appropriate vehicle. UNISON is also challenging the Trust with regards to the contractual side of overtime.  If it is regularly worked should it become contractual so members will be paid a level of overtime whilst on leave and is the Trust in breach of contract due to the current excessive levels being worked. These do not detract from the want of members to finish on time but are challenges that need to be made as we believe that if there was a greater cost implication the trust would manage the situation better.

The Trust has agreed that the policy is necessary and it will reflect the demands of members, as highlighted above. Basically, crews will be returned to their locality  60 minutes before the end of the shift, during the last 45 minutes of the shift they will returned to base and only attend potentially life threatening calls, defined and agreed as being Red 1, Red 2, maternities, fitting’s and RTCs

3. ECA role - A full review of the ECA role and ensure the Trust enforce the agreement that two band 3 ECAs do not work together and that any ECAs who are asked to move station, due to them only having a temporary station agreement, should only be asked to move to a station which is deemed reasonable.

There will be a full review of the ECA role, and UNISON have confirmed that two ECAs cannot work together under any circumstances. ECAs who have received a letter stating their base is temporary may be approached to change base station, however this relocation needs to be reasonable, taking into account personal circumstance and relevant policies.

It was also agreed that it would be sensible to await the outcome of the “urgent tier” discussions before we start to move current ECAs away from their base stations.

4. Relief policy - adhere to the current policy, in its entirety, also clarify that the 2 weeks of relief in station rotas is for STATION cover only.

The trust has agreed to adhere to the policy and confirmed that the relief weeks within core station rotas is for station cover only

5. Rural area cover -  implement a policy that effectively returns any vehicle that is ‘out of area’ back towards its area unless it is the nearest vehicle to a red 1 or 2 call, this will assist in the reduction of overtime and late meal breaks.

It has been agreed initially that any vehicle controlled by York EOC which calls clear out of area will be automatically returned to their locality unless they are the nearest vehicle to a potentially life threatening call, defined and agreed as being Red 1, Red 2, maternities, fitting’s and RTCs .This policy will assist members to get back to their own area, not just for meal breaks but also it should reduce the amount of end of shift overtime. It is envisaged that this procedure will be extended to the rest of Yorkshire in July 2014 once the “urgent tier” is fully up and running.

6. Training - the Trust has committed to doubling the training allocation for A&E ops but members want more details of how this will affect them individually depending on grade.

A full break down of training will be released highlighting how the 50% increase  will affect each staff group within A&E and therefore benefit our members.

7. Station rotas - a commitment to ‘where necessary’ review station rotas to ensure the work pattern reflects the majority of members views such as long stretches of shifts, 12hrs at the weekend, shift lengths and start & finish times.

This review was called by members to ensure that individual station rotas reflected the views of members working them, UNISON can assure members that this is not a full rota change just a station by station review.

8. A&E support/Urgent Tier – to increase the levels of the A&E support crews and to ensure that any member who has had a reduction in unsocial hours payment, due to the rota change, receives the correct level of protection of up to one year dependant on service.

UNISON has argued for months that the removal of the A&E support role was a major step backwards which has put member’s jobs at risk due to the high cost of a blanket 5&3 model. The removal of this tier has also impacted on meal breaks, end of shift overtime and the length of time RRVs are waiting on scene for “back up”.

The trust has agreed to the reintroduction of the “Urgent/A&E Support Tier”, details of where and when will follow. This is a major breakthrough for UNISON and its members which will secure contracts in the future. It was also agreed that members who have been forced onto the new 12:00-20:00 rota will be entitled to unsocial hours protection for a period of up to 12 months, dependant on their length of service.

9. Rural  cover – members, across the county, expressed concerns around the level of DCA cover since the rota change, especially in North and East Yorkshire. UNISON members insist this be reviewed in light of the waiting times for DCA crews and the increase in RRV cover. UNISON members believe that this issue has been compounded by the removal of the A&E support tier.

A review has been agreed and will take place over the next few weeks. UNISON believes that the policies and agreements highlighted above will have a positive impact on members working conditions.

UNISON Yorkshire Ambulance Branch Committee now believes the members demands from the mass meeting have been met but are fully aware there are still many issues which need addressing. Due to this it has been agreed that Local Joint Steering Groups (JSG) will be set up on a bimonthly basis to discuss and resolve local issues. These meeting will involve UNISON Area Secretaries, Convenors and Workplace Reps, any unresolved issues will be escalated to the full JSG meeting.

UNISON will be holding local area meetings in the near future to evaluate the improvements made due to these changes and gain member’s feedback.

UNISON would like to take this opportunity to thank all its members for their support over the past few months. UNISON is the only recognised trade union that can negotiate on your behalf with a membership of over 3,200 members which is increasing daily. It is due to this strong membership and a proactive Branch Committee that members’ demands have been met.

The Branch Committee would also like to thank all the local reps who have showed great strength and support throughout the process and acknowledge that without them the branch would not be able to achieve positive outcomes like this.

UNISON will continue to work tirelessly to maintain and improve members working conditions in all areas of the Trust.

Once again, many thanks.