Delivering a promise over pay

The junior doctor dispute over pay has taken up a lot of space in the news in recent months, yet they are not the only health professionals who are displeased with Government plans.

In 2014, paramedics were among the thousands of health professionals who took to the picket line in the first NHS strike over pay in 32 years. In a desperate effort to resolve the pay dispute of 2014/15, the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, agreed to a number of commitments to ambulance staff, including a review of the banding system to recognise the skill set of paramedics (Hunt, 2015). Roll on 2016 and there is still no suggestion that Mr Hunt will deliver on his promise. Understandably this has angered many ambulance staff.

As a result, the unions UNISON, Unite and GMB have announced they will be balloting their ambulance service members to see if they are willing to take industrial action over the Government’s failure to keep its promise.

The numbers of paramedics leaving the profession has been increasing year-on-year (UNISON et al, 2015). This has resulted in the addition of paramedics to the shortage occupation list (SOL), with vacancy rates running at approximately 10% of the total 12 500 paramedic workforce in England (Migration Advisory Committee, 2015). One of the key reasons people cited leaving, or considering leaving, the ambulance service was pay (UNISON et al, 2015).

The proposal set out in the Urgent and Emergency Care Review (NHS England, 2013) to extend paramedic training and skills, and develop 999 ambulances into mobile treatment centres, emphasises how the current scope of practice of paramedics is changing. As paramedics take on increasing responsibilities, it is only fair their pay is amended to reflect this shift. The short supply and high demand of paramedics means that ambulance services are facing a conceivable recruitment and retention crisis. However, while the National Ambulance Strategic Partnership Forum have made a formal request to the National Job Evaluation Group to look at the National Job Evaluation paramedic profile, only a handful of ambulance services have agreed to pay paramedics Agenda for Change band 6 in the hope of recruiting and retaining paramedics.

The Journal of Paramedic Practice would like to find out how its readers feel about their current pay and conditions. I therefore urge you to take 3 minutes to complete our online survey.

References

Hunt J (2015) Letter from the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health, to Christina McAnea on Agenda for Change Proposal, 27 January 2015. http://tinyurl.com/hcwlk7g (accessed 29 April 2016)

Migration Advisory Committee (2015) Partial review of the Shortage Occupation Lists for the UK and for Scotland. MAC, London. http://tinyurl.com/qdaqbbl (accessed 29 April 2016)

NHS England (2013) High quality care for all, now and for future generations: Transforming urgent and emergency care services in England—Urgent and Emergency Care Review End of Phase 1 Report. NHS England, Leeds

UNISON, Unite, GMB (2015) NHS Pay Review Body Evidence: Recruitment and retention of ambulance staff. http://tinyurl.com/grd59l2 (accessed 29 April 2016)

Taken from Journal of Paramedic Practice, published 6 May 2016.