Scottish Workforce & Staff Governance Committee
SWAG
Scottish Workforce & Staff Governance Committee
Friday 20 May 2011
Conference Room 2, Victoria Quay
Present:Ingrid Clayden Scottish Government (Chair)
Jane Anderson – Unison
John Boland – Unite
George Brechin – NHS Fife
Michael Brown – Royal College of Nursing
John Callaghan – Society of Chiropodists & Podiatrists
Audrey Cowie – Scottish Government
Joyce Davison – BMA
Pat Dawson – NHS Lothian
Linda Delgado - Unite
David Forbes – Unison
Shirley Johnston – Amicus
Alex Joyce – Unison (For Sandra Dee Mason)
Gordon McKay – Unison
Jackie Mitchell – RoyalCollege of Midwives
Norman Provan – Royal College of Nursing
Ian Reid – NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
Claire Ronald – Chartered Society of Physiotherapists
Elizabeth Stow – Society of Radiographers
Dorothy Wright – NHS Education for Scotland
Apologies:Ken Ferguson – NHS Ayrshire & Arran, Donald Harley – BMA, Pamela McLauchlan- Scottish Ambulance Service, Patricia McNally – Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, Anne Thomson – Royal College of Nursing, Anne Gent – NHS Highland, Ray Stewart – Chair of the Employee Directors Group
Sandra Dee Mason – Unite, John Nicholls – Scottish Government.
In AttendanceNick Bacon – University of Nottingham, John Davidson – Scottish Government, Darren Paterson – Scottish Government, Gordon Currie – Scottish Government, Heather Johnstone – Scottish Government (minute taker)
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SWAG
1 - Agenda Item 1 – Welcome, Introductions and apologies
Ingrid welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited attendees to introducethemselves. Ingrid announced that Norman Provan has been nominated the Committee’s Co-Chair from Staff Side.
2 - Agenda Item 2 – Minute of the meeting held on 25 February 2011 and matters arising
The minute of the last meeting were agreed subject tothree small amendments. There were no matters arising.
Action:
3 - Agenda Item 3 –National Uniform for Doctors, Dentists and Pharmacists
Susan Ireland introducedthe paper circulated in advance of the meeting.
There is some evidence that members of the public like NHS staff in uniform and that some medical and pharmacy staff wish to wear uniform. Uniforms create a professional, corporate image. A standardised garment would avoid the risk of Boards contravening uniform policy by piloting local uniform e.g. NHS Ayrshire and Arran is currently trialling a burgundy tunic for medical staff.
The Committee was invited to discuss the 3 proposed options outlined in the paper.
The BMA suggested that there should be a fourth option i.e. to keep the status quo. In the discussion that followed, there was agreement that there should be initial partnership discussion involving the appropriate Trade Unions/Professional organisations before being referred back to SWAG. The Committee concluded that the proposal should be considered as part of the 2012 review of national uniform.
Action:Proposal for medical and pharmacy uniform to be considered by the Uniform Review Group as part of the 2012 review of national uniform. BMA and UNISON to be consulted before any proposal is fed into the review.
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SWAG
4 - Agenda Item 4 –Working Well
Susan Ireland introduced the paper circulated in advance of the meeting.
The Occupational Health Passport is going ahead with limited data being put on e:ESS. A short life working group will convene in June, to look at some areas including vaccination records and passing records between boards. It was suggested that the CLO should be invited to consider whether the passport complies with equality legislation.
Carers Strategy – there will be a re-launch of the carers policy during carers week in June. Some promotional material will be available. This project includes development of a toolkit which it is hoped will be launched in December.
The Financial Capability project aims to help reduce the number of NHS staff who suffer from financial related stress. The intention is to target staff in bands 1 -4 since this is the group most likely to need help. During the discussion, it was recognised that many of the target staff are part time and don’t always work set working patterns. Different approaches will therefore be needed to make sure that support is available to all staff, including the Nurse Bank.
The NHS Credit Union will be represented on the project working group. David Forbes agreed to represent staff side on the group and Ian Reid said that he would identify an Employers representative. It was suggested that Mary Kelly (NHS Lothian) would be a helpful addition to the group.
The Committee confirmed support for the direction of travel in general and on the financial capability in particular.
Action:Health Workforce Directorate to invite NHSScotland CLO to consider whether the occupational health passport complies with equality legislation.
Action:Ian Reid to identify an Employer representative to join the Financial Capability project working group.
Action:Susan Ireland to consider inviting Mary Kelly to join the project working group.
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SWAG
5 - Agenda Item 5 –Final KSF Heat Target Performance Report
Anne Campbellintroduced the paper circulated in advance of the meeting.
The final report showed that all boards apart from two hit the target by 31 March 2011. All boards should be congratulated on the effort they have put into this target. Now that the target has been completed the challenge is to maintain momentum and embed KSF within NHSScotland. There is commitment within the boards to take this forward. In the discussion that followed, it was noted that e-KSF holds the numerical data but some members expressed concern about the quality that lies behind the numbers. The quality issue could possibly be addressed through the Self Assessment Audit Tool process.
It was noted that e-KSF will no longer be used in England and there is a debate to be had about whether e-KSF is of sufficient value to justify continued funding for use in Scotland. The next step is to prepare an options paper for consideration by Scottish Ministers.
Action:Scottish Government to produce a communication to the service outlining progress and next steps.
Action:Options paper to Ministers.
6 - Agenda Item 6 –PINS
Darren Paterson and a number ofPIN Group Members presented revised PIN Policies for Personal Development Planning and Review, Facilities Arrangements for Trade Union and Professional Organisations, Dealing with Employee Grievances, Implementing and Reviewing Whistleblowing Arrangements, and Preventing and Dealing with Bullying and Harassment.
The PIN policies for Personal Development Planning and Review , and Dealing with Employee Grievances were agreed as drafted.
The Committee discussedin detail the funding arrangements section of theFacilities Arrangements for Trade Union and Professional OrganisationsPIN. There was agreement that facilities arrangements must be funded and that funding should be transparent. The debate centred around the mechanism for achieving this. The outcome was that Christine McCole will agree a revised form of words with employers and staff side. The Committee agreed that SWAG Secretariat should be invited to ratify this PIN Policy at the June meeting.
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SWAG
The Committee was advised that the PIN Policy for Implementing and Reviewing Whistleblowing arrangements in NHSScotland is based on the NHS England whistle blowing policy. The PIN was agreed as drafted subject to any comments received from the BMA.
The Preventing and Dealing with Bulling and Harassment PIN was agreed subject to removing references to ‘malicious’, ill-intentioned’ and ‘vexatious’ and replacing these with consistent references to ‘misconceived’ or ‘unreasonable’.
SWAG thanked all those who took part in the PIN groups for there hard work.
Darren advised the Committee that the Ministerial forewards will now be drafted and cleared with the Cabinet Secretary. He also reported that the staff governance team are working with APS (Scotland) on the styling of the PINS which will be published in July 2011(subject to agreement by the Cabinet Secretary) on the Staff Governance Website. There will also be a limited print run. All boards should put the PINS on their own websites and commend them to Area Partnership Forums. The current PIN Policies should continue to be used until new policies are in place.
Action:Scottish Government to draft Ministerial forewords and clear with Cabinet Secretary.
Action:Funding arrangements section of the PIN Policy for Facilities Arrangements for Trade Union and Professional organisations to be redrafted, agreed with Employers and Staff Side, and ratified by SWAG Secretariat in June.
Action:Implementing and Reviewing Whistleblowing Arrangements PIN Policy to be discussed with the BMA.
Action:Minor redrafting to Preventing and Dealing with Bullying and Harassment PIN.
Action:Scottish Government to publication of all 5 PIN Policy with Cabinet Secretary.
Action:Scottish Government to arrange publication of PIN Policies on Staff Governance website together with a limited print run.
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SWAG
7 - Agenda Item 7 –Any Other Business
It was brought to the Committee’s attention that MSG have agreed thatemployees should pay for their own PVG Certificate. SWAG discussed this issue some time ago and aprevious minute appread to indicate an assumption that employers would pay these costs. There was concern from the staff side that the implications of this approach to PVG scheme payment were not discussed through the appropriate partnership structures. The Scottish Government will look into this and report back to the committee.
Action:Scottish Government to investigate the PVG issue and report back to SWAG.
The next meeting of the committee will be held onFriday 26 August, 10:00 – 13:00, in Conference Room 3, Victoria Quay.
Heather Johnstone
Scottish Government Health Directorates
Monday 23 May 2011
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