PIN Board: Minute of meeting

18thMarch 2004, 10.00, UNISON House, Glasgow

Present:

Jonathan Best (Joint Chair) / (JB) / John Gallagher / (JG)
Elizabeth Stow (Joint Chair) / (ES) / Caroline Hutchinson / (CH)
Scott Anderson / (SA) / Billy Parker / (BP)
Claire Brennan (minutes) / (CB) / Ed Rennie / (ER)
John Callaghan / (JC) / Rona Webster / (RW)

Apologies:Alex Killick; David Piggott; Anne Thomson

In Attendance:Jacqui Jones; Vicki Masters [for item 4.1]; Vicki Larkin

1Minute of previous meeting & matters arising

1.1Membership

Ed Rennie, Assistant Director of HR (Partnership & Staff Governance) at NHS Grampian, was welcomed to the PIN Board.

JC confirmed that it was still undecided who the Employee Director representative on the PIN Board would be, but in the meantime he would continue to represent the Employee Directors.

1.2Partnership Conference Workshop

JB and ES had led a workshop on PIN Guidelines at the Partnership Conference at the end of January. This workshop was very well attended, with about 70 delegates, and discussed how systems were getting on with implementing the Guidelines. Generally, feedback suggested no major problems, although some areas appeared to experience difficulties with one part of one Guideline (i.e. the parental leave section of the Family Friendly Guideline). Conversely, other areas reported that they had had no problems implementing this. ER suggested that a cost-benefit analysis may be useful in supporting the debate around this particular issue across NHSScotland. JG also noted that at the Partnership Conference, the Minister had clarified that implementation of the Guidelines was a ministerial expectation, and that the SAAT and accountability review process would identify any problems in relation to this.

1.3Blood-borne viruses

At its January meeting, the PIN Board identified some questions around HAI and staff screening, which CB agreed to look into. Since the March meeting, Bill Welsh has confirmed that a small sub-group of the HRF was working on this issue and aimed to produce national guidance, probably based on what was in place at West Lothian.

4Implementing Existing Guidelines

4.1Career break policy (taken as the first agenda item)

Vicki Masters (VM), OD Manager, NHSForthValley, reported that work was being carried out in ForthValley to implement the Career Break section of the Family Friendly Guideline. Currently the PIN Guideline specified that maintenance of superannuation contributions could only continue for up to one year of a career break. SPPA suggested that under the 1995 Regulations, an employee could continue to pay contributions indefinitely if the break was designated a leave of absence. However, SPPA also clarified that they would need written confirmation that the existing PIN Guideline had been superceded in this respect, and that career breaks should now be considered as leaves of absence.

VM also noted that if an employee did not continue to pay contributions, they would go on to a preserved pension, which would mean that benefits would not be as favourable if s/he became ill during the career break. Additionally, the view in England was that a career break should only be for a year, although SPPA took the view that this may be discriminatory.

On this basis, the PIN Board agreed to take advice from the CLO and the Scottish Executive lawyers.

Action: CB

If legal opinion suggested that limiting superannuation contributions while on a career break to a year may be open to a claim of discrimination, it was agreed that the Guideline should be amended to designate career breaks as a leave of absence. This would mean that employees and employers would be able to continue paying superannuation contributions for the duration of the break, and employees would not be disadvantaged.

Meantime for the purposes of the ForthValley policy, it was recommended that the first year be considered a career break and the second as special leave, pending clarification and further guidance.

3New Guidelines

3.1Induction

CB confirmed that a letter had been sent to the members of the original GDG. To date only one response had been received directly from the GDG, although others had got in touch as a result of the letter to indicate that they would be willing to participate in this work. The PIN Board also suggested that Sheila Marshall and Frances Millar, who run induction at Yorkhill, and Susan Dunn at Lanarkshire, may also be interested. Rob Key at the CSA has done a lot of work around e-induction, and JJ and CB agreed to identify a representative from SEHD. A meeting would be set up for the re-convened group.

Action: CB

3.2Recruitment & Selection

A draft Guideline had been circulated before the meeting, and it was agreed that it needed to be edited before going out to the service for consultation. A sub-group would meet to do this, and representatives of the GDG would be invited to attend for part of that meeting. Two specific issues would be considered: reducing the level of detail around pre-employment health screening; and the New Deal for the unemployed.

3.3Fixed-term Contracts

It was agreed that consultation on this and the Recruitment Guideline would take place at three all-day regional events on

Thursday 3rd June, North (Postgraduate Medical Centre, Aberdeen)

Thursday 10th June, West (Golden Jubilee)

Friday 18th June, East (Scottish Health Service Centre, Edinburgh)

The day would be split into two sessions, with one session for each Guideline. The PIN Board would chair and support each session, with the Chair and Secretary of each Guideline being available to introduce and present their Guideline. This would be followed by a workshop to allow participants to discuss the Guideline.

Both documents would be released for consultation in May, with consultation ending mid-July. Meantime a letter would go out to the service outlining the details of the consultation events and confirming that the Guidelines would follow.

4Implementing Existing Guidelines

4.2Health at Work: “Managing Violence & Aggression in Healthcare: PIN to practice” Conference, 20th April 2004, Murrayfield

The main focus of this conference was the work around the ten funded projects relating to violence and aggression. One of the initial presentations on the day would put the projects in the context of the PIN Guideline on Managing Violence and Aggression, outlining the key points of this Guideline and linking all of this work to the broader theme of staff governance.

It was agreed that there needed to be close links between PIN and OHSSIG, and a standing invitation to PIN Board meetings would be made to George Brechin and Susan Russell as joint chairs of OHSSIG.

Action: CB

5Review of Guidelines

Meetings of the Guideline Review Groups have been scheduled as follows:

Guideline / Meeting / Buddy
Dignity / RW
Equal opportunities / 16.4.04, 10.00, St Andrews House / CB
Facilities / 21.4.04, 2.00, St Andrews House / CH
PDP and Review / 5.5.04, 10.00, Stirling Management Centre / AK

It was hoped that the review process would be completed in enough time to allow the reviewed Guidelines to be distributed at next year’s Partnership Conference. It was noted that a vital part of this work would be to look at how Guidelines have been implemented across the service. This might be achieved by asking three questions:

Does the organisation have a local policy in place?

Has implementation been successful?

What benefits have accrued as a result of implementation?

If a Guideline needed fundamentally changed, it would go out for consultation.

The PIN Board expressed disappointment with the advice received from the CLO relating to developments in family friendly legislation, as it appeared to focus primarily on possible loopholes. JJ agreed to raise this with the CLO.

Action: JJ

In order to start work on reviewing the Family Friendly Guideline, it was agreed to hold an all-day meeting on 4th May, to begin to chunk up, prioritise and plan the work around this. (The Chair and Secretary of the Recruitment Guideline would also be invited to attend for part of the morning to discuss this Guideline.)

6Work Programme

CB tabled a draft programme and agreed to update it on the basis of decisions made earlier in the meeting. This programme would be used to inform the PIN Board itself, and a less detailed version would be submitted to the HRF.

Action: CB

7PIN Awards

On the basis of the applications submitted, PIN Awards were allocated as follows:

1st prize:Grampian (Family Friendly)

2nd prize:Yorkhill (Dignity)

3rd prize (joint):Lanarkshire Primary Care (Sickness Absence)

3rd prize (joint):Tayside (Health at Work)

8AOCB

8.1Workshop at HR Conference (29/30 April)

Planning for this workshop will take place outwith the meeting.

9Date and time of next meetings

Family Friendly Review:

Tuesday 4th May 2004 at 10.00, Stirling Royal Infirmary Conference Centre

Next scheduled meeting:

Thursday 25th May 2004 at 10.00, UNISON House, Glasgow