The CSP has welcomed the publication of the independent NHS Wales Workforce Review, which was commissioned in the wake of Wales' two year Agenda for Change pay award in 2014.
The review was asked to consider the sustainability of the NHS workforce and the strategic developments required to address the funding challenges identified in the Nuffield Trust report ‘A decade of austerity in Wales’?
Led by David Jenkins OBE and supported by a panel of experts, the review has made a number of recommendations in response to the 4 areas within the scope of the review, which included:
- new models of service delivery which are at the forefront of the integration of health and social care
- the skill mix of the workforce
- the identification of possible efficiency savings
- the long term strategic direction of pay for Agenda for Change staff and executive and senior posts
The following 4 recommendations on pay and other terms and conditions of most interest to CSP members employed by the NHS in Wales are:
30. The long term strategic direction for pay in the NHS must be to keep pace with wage growth in the wider economy if the NHS is to avoid serious recruitment and retention difficulties, a worsening of staff morale and a decline in levels of competency (paragraph 5.11).
31. When a remit is issued to the [Agenda for Change] AfC Pay Review Body by Welsh Government it should be on the basis that all parties agree in advance to accept and implement the central recommendations arising from the review (paragraph 5.15).
32. The existing UK framework for pay and terms and conditions for AfC staff underpinned by NHS job evaluation should be maintained (paragraph 5.24).
33. Welsh Government, NHS Wales employers and trade unions in Wales should promote a four country review of the NHS Staff Council operating arrangements to ensure they continue to appropriately reflect, and keep pace with, devolution settlements in health (paragraph 5.25).
Pete Finch, CSP Senior Negotiating Officer for Wales said:
‘The CSP welcomes the long awaited NHS Wales Workforce review to which we provided written evidence.
‘We are pleased the review recognises that long term pay restraint is unsustainable and that it recommends continued support for the pay review body process and a UK framework for pay and terms and conditions.'
‘We look forward to working with the incoming Welsh Government to take these recommendations forward.’
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