Secretary's Corner
October 2009
Following on from the pilot trial of the ECA/ASW role undertaken in the South Western Ambulance Trust, 'Fusion Ltd' an independent external market research company was commissioned to write a report.
That 94 page report is now available and can be read here.
On the 22nd September, an urgent meeting of UNISON's National Ambulance Sector convened to discuss and review the document, having already met with representatives of Trade Union partners and employer’s representatives in the National Ambulance Strategic Partnership Forum. The outcome of that meeting was an agreed position and the following statement has been issued.
- The ECA role as currently designed is not fit for purpose in that it fails to deliver appropriate levels of clinical care to patients and has adverse effects on staff welfare;
- No staff should be deployed by Ambulance services in a front line capacity who have not been trained as a minimum to standards as set out in the Millar report;
- These minimum standards are not and cannot be reflected in any band 3 or lower graded roles;
- To seek urgent national discussions with English Ambulance trusts.
-Employers on a timetable of withdrawal of all band 3 roles from front line vehicles and to work with UNISON Ambulance branches in pursuance of immediate implementation of this policy.
This position statement was then tabled at a meeting of the Health Service Group Executive (representing across Health in UNISON) as an emergency agenda item the following day by the National Chair Joe Conaghan, where it received 100% support and approval. Sam Oestreicher (National Secretary for Ambulance) will be writing to all the English Trust Chief Executive Officers with the following letter. The response(s) will determine the next move in this campaign but we have the support of the HSGE.
“Staff whose roles have been job evaluated at band 3 or below should not be deployed by Ambulance services in any front line capacity as they will not possess the necessary knowledge, training and experience to deliver the level of patient care expected from an emergency ambulance practitioner. This applies whether or not they are accompanied by a paramedic or technician as it is clear from our members input and the evaluation report that reducing the skill set of one of the emergency ambulance team has a detrimental impact on patient care.
“In the circumstances we are seeking an urgent meeting of the NASPF to discuss a timetable of withdrawal of all band 3 roles from front line deployment. We feel this process can be best achieved through enhancing the training of existing band 3 ECA’s to bring their skill set up to the standard as reflected by the National Ambulance Practitioner band 4 job profile and in the North West Ambulance Service Assistant Ambulance Practitioner pack.”
In light of the above we will be calling on senior managers locally to enter into discussions on how to take this forward, we will also be asking to discuss how our current ASWs/ECAs are deployed, as it is apparent that there are many inconsistencies in this area which is leading to confusion and conflict.
I would also like to take this opportunity to assure staff of our view that ASWs/ECAs are considered an important and valuable part of the Ambulance Service team, this is not about trying to "get rid" of anybody but it is about protecting roles in appropriate pay bands, a view that was shared by those ASWs/ECAs that were approached and gave a response as part of the trial.
In other news – on Wednesday 23rd September, myself and Frank Ward (Divisional Lead for Essex and Herts) attended a meeting in London to discuss and review, with others, the outcome of the latest annual staff survey. All 11 of the Ambulance Service Trusts in England were represented by Senior Staffside Officers and 10 of the 11 were represented by Managers at Chief Executive or Director level, unfortunately no-one from management side of our Trust were available….
It is very clear when studying the results of the survey that year on year the same issues are being raised by staff in Ambulance Trusts, morale is worryingly low and in many areas Ambulance staff are recording scores that are significantly lower than in other areas of the NHS. The day was a very worthwhile event with many examples of best practice, good ideas and robust discussions taking place. Presentations were given by Anne Richardson, DoH Deputy Director (Workforce Policy), Liz Kendall, Ambulance Service Network Director, NHS Confederation, David Farrelly, HRD, EMAS and National TU Staff-side Leads.
It was agreed that all Ambulance Trusts would be written to and, working in partnership, a clearly defined plan will be expected as to how each Trust intends to address these issues. Further meetings will be taking place to review progress and I will report further in forthcoming Newsletters.
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