11 April 2003
An attempt by some Unison activists to block the government's overhaul of the NHS pay system failed this week, although rank-and-file members will have the final say on whether the initiative goes ahead.
After a four-hour debate, delegates at the union's annual health conference in Harrogate voted overwhelmingly to recommend that the Agenda for Change initiative be implemented in 12 pilot sites in England.
They brushed aside some branches' concerns that the simplified system would 'entrench low pay'.
Unison's national leadership won delegates' support by promising to ballot its 450,000 health members in May on whether the 12 pilots should proceed. These will be monitored and problems addressed before a second Unison vote next year to decide whether the deal should be implemented across the NHS.
Paul Marks, the union's lead negotiator on Agenda for Change, told the conference that the deal would give pay increases to the vast majority and lift the minimum wage in the NHS from £4.47 to £5.17.
'You have a choice – kill Agenda for Change and stay with the past or accept Agenda for Change and build for the future,' he added.
The vote will be welcome news for the government but delegates did not back all its policies.
The conference voted to step up Unison's campaign against foundation trusts. The union believes foundation status will 'create a two-tier health service,
re-introduce damaging competition and create inequalities in health care'. Unison's head of health, Karen Jennings, said: 'Foundation hospitals are like a Trojan horse bringing private companies into the heart of the NHS. They will create an internal market and will lead to destabilisation of the NHS.'
Former health secretary Frank Dobson told the conference: 'Foundation hospitals will be like a cuckoo in the local NHS, developing their own priorities at the expense of everyone else.'
Unison's attack on foundation trusts came as the Institute for Public Policy Research said the initiative could benefit patients. However, it added that primary care trusts must be strengthened to stand up to foundation trusts.
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