Nurses ban extra shifts in pay row

From the archive, first published Friday 10th Feb 2006.

Nurses in the intensive care unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary are refusing to work overtime because of a pay dispute with hospital bosses.

Since the beginning of the month, the highly-trained nurses have stopped working extra shifts to cover for staff sickness.

The action has been taken after bosses at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust refused to sanction overtime payments at a rate stated in the national terms and conditions of employment for nurses.

Despite a series of emergency meetings between union officials and Trust management, a resolution to the dispute has not been reached and nurses have continued to refuse to work extra hours.

It has left the Trust to rely on expensive agency staff to plug gaps in staffing levels on the unit where patients are usually in a critical condition.

Hospital insiders claim the action has led to the unit not being fully staffed, desperately needed beds not being available and admissions being delayed.

"Since February 1, beds have been shut frequently due to insufficient staff numbers and admissions have been delayed because of this," said one member of staff, who works on the ICU unit but did not want to be named for fear of repercussions.

"The management now appears to be trying to introduce agency staff into the ICU."

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed the dispute over overtime rates but denied it had led to insufficient staffing of the unit.

He said: "The Critical Care Unit is always staffed sufficiently for the number of patients in its care.

"Some of the unit's nursing staff have decided not to work extra shifts to cover any sickness among their colleagues.

"We have offered to pay staff for extra shifts at a standard rate, but they are requesting an overtime rate which includes a premium above normal pay.

"National guidelines state that hospitals may choose whether or not to pay a special overtime rate."

The dispute over overtime rates has been simmering since a meeting last September between ICU nurses, union officials and Trust directors.

The nurses and their union representatives then learned that management would not support the payment of overtime at nationally agreed levels.

Following the meeting Royal College of Nursing representatives suggested the nurses stop working additional shifts on the Temporary Nurse Register and nurses signed a letter to that effect, which was passed to Trust management in the first week of December.

On January 18 Penny Silson, operations director at the Trust, replied in a letter which has been leaked to the Telegraph & Argus.

In it she states: "As I explained to you by letter and when we met I am not in a position to authorise payment for additional hours at overtime rate. This position has not changed."

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals, added: "We value the work of all our nursing staff and we have had discussions with them regarding their decision, which we respect and accept.

"Should the need arise, we will approach the appropriate agencies to cover our staffing needs, which is normal practice in the NHS."

A spokesman for the Royal College of Nursing, the UK professional organisation for nurses, said its officials were still in negotiations with Trust management over the dispute.

"The RCN is aware of the problem and is working with the HR department at the Trust to resolve the issue. We would not want to comment any further than that."

The dispute over pay comes as the Trust, which was £7.9 million in debt at the end of last March, struggles to balance its books at the end of this financial year on March 31.

The Trust expects to be £900,000 in deficit despite a series of cost-cutting measures.

Hundreds of administration jobs are expected to be lost over the coming weeks as the Trust seeks to slice £1 million from its salaries budget and make it "lean and efficient".

It also recently announced it was seeking to cut running costs of the city's two hospitals by £9.5 million over the next five years.

The Trust has consistently promised these cuts would not be done by reducing the level of care provided to patients.

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