Occupational Therapist working in the Health Service
SCOTTISH HEALTH COMMITTEE
PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL
A SECTOR COMMITTEE
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NEWS UPDATE
The National Occupational
Therapists Conference will be held on the 23rd
and 24th November 2005 in Nottingham.
Held in conjunction with BAOT this is particularly
useful to new stewards and those who are considering becoming
stewards. Accommodation and travel is provided so all that’s
required is time to attend. A report will be submitted here
after the conference.
Agenda for Change
Most Health Boards have
now matched their professional staff groups to the agenda
for change profiles. Over 80% of occupational Therapists have
been matched.
Some Health Boards though
have some way to go with only 20% being matched in Grampian.
There has been an update
in the profiles for Occupational Therapists and a complete
set are attached to this update as well as the generic therapy
band 4 profile.
These can be downloaded .pdf Format as there
is a total of 14 pages.
THE STUDENT ALLOWANCE,
which is payable under Whitley, has been a major concern
for the PAM group of staff is now accommodated in the new
arrangements for agenda for change by being consolidated in
the salary for assimilation and no member should be detrimentally
affected by the arrangements.
The arrangements are laid out in the questions
and answers paper issued by SPRIG.
29. Allowances
Question
Will Student Training Allowances (STA) be
taken into account when assimilating staff onto AfC?
Answer
For assimilation purposes the value of any
STA received by staff in the year prior to the effective
date of the agreement will be the amount taken into account
for assimilation purposes.
There may be cases where staff have regularly
taken students but during the year prior to the effective
date of the agreement were prevented for doing so.
Such circumstances may include absence due
to maternity or carer leave, career break, secondments,
union representatives preparing for AfC implementation,
or where the individual agreed, at the request of their
employer, to undertake other duties which did not attract
an STA.
In such cases the intention is not to penalise
staff on assimilation and staff in the circumstances above
should therefore have the value of any allowance received,
in any one year, during the period 1st October 2001 to
30th September 2003 included for assimilation purposes.
Finally, when assimilating part-time staff
who receive an STA, the whole-time value of the allowance
should be added to the whole-time value of the basic pay
and other relevant payments and then pro-rated
( extract from SPRIG advice paper SPRIG/AFC/SGL/2005/010
as approved guidance. )
Subscription Rises
There has been a significant
rise in subscriptions for support therapists within BAOT and
the sector committee is concerned that this will lead to a
fall off of subscribed members from the professional arm of
the service.. The Sector Committee is to raise this at the
Scottish Board in November with a view to seeking some mitigation
of the proposals.
Pay 1st
April 2006
(15/11/05) UNISON is today calling upon the
Review Body for Nursing and Other Professional Staff to award
a substantial pay rise to a wide range of NHS staff.
UNISON has members in all the staff groups under review and
its submission includes sections on healthcare assistants,
nurses, ambulance staff, occupational therapists and scientists,
pharmacy and operating department staff.
In its evidence to the review body, UNISON will explain that
despite working in a state of almost continuous revolution,
staff have an impressive track record of delivering for patients.
The union will outline how waiting lists have been cut, more
patients are being treated more quickly, and services have
improved enormously.
UNISON recommends:
- a significant pay increase/and or a flat rate pay increase
to be applied to those staff within the remit of the review
bodies whose earnings are lowest;
-
the review body to call for occupational
therapists to be added to the agreed list for the application
of national recruitment and retention premiums;
-
the review body to identify and acknowledge
the vital work that non regulated staff undertake, their
commitment to patient care and the future potential regulation
for their professional regulation.
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Members of the Committee
- Joanna Beveridge
- Norma Clark
- Deborah Clyde
- Denise Connon
- Melanie Hutchison
- Lynn main
- Sandra-Dee Masson
- Diana McCrone
- Anne McDonald
- Cathy McGinty
- Anne Palmer
- Chris Smith
- Gillian Trotter
- Karen Wilson
- Chair of the Committee Norma Clark
- Representative on the Scottish
Health Committee
- Representative on the National
PTA sector Committee
- Denise Connon and Chris Smith
- Representative to the National
Occup. Therapists Forum
- Representative to the Scottish
National Board for Occupational Therapists
- Last meeting was held in Edinburgh on the 21st
October 2005
- The Sector Committee next meets on 20th
January 2006 in UNISON Edinburgh Office.
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