Strike & Picket Information


{{Date }}
Strike and Picket Details

Strike window: 00:01 - 23:59

Picket running time: 08:00 - 16:00

Picket location: Outside the hospital entrance, on the grass verge by the roundabout

When to clock out if working before 00:01: Clock out at 00:01 and join the picket from 08:00 up until it ends at 16:00.

When to return to work if working after 23:59: Clock in at 23:59 and work until the end of your shift.

The Latest Developments


THURSDAY 16TH MAY 2024

Campaign Website Launched

Background


Your UNISON reps at RDUH have been campaigning for you to be paid fairly for the level of work that you are carrying out as a HCA, and as a result, you should now be paid as a band 3 if you are undertaking this level of work.

However, colleagues in other NHS Trust’s across the UK have also received a lump sum in recognition for the length of time they had been working above their pay grade.

UNISON have officially launched a collective grievance over the issue with the aim to kick-start negotiations with RDUH so that you get the full pay and recognition you deserve.

If you have recently been uplifted from a band 2 to a band 3, you could be entitled to a lump sum compensation payment.

What can you do to help?


Together, we are stronger. Lets show the trust our strength. Join your colleagues and add your signature.

Sign the Grievance

Could you make a difference?


The more signatures we collect, the more likely we are to achieve success.

This campaign relies on HCAs like you playing an active role. Whether it's handing out leaflets to colleagues or being a part of the HCA activist network, it all makes a difference.

If you would like to find out more about how you can help, speak to a rep or click the button below

Get Active

Will you join your colleagues in UNISON?


We form the largest trade union in the NHS and have over two thousand members in RDUH.

#PayFairForPatientCare is a UNISON led campaign across the UK.

If you're not already a UNISON member, join us to help support this campaign! The more of us there are, the greater our strength when it comes to negotiating for what we deserve.

Frequently Asked Questions


Our Trust can’t afford this

That is false. The Trust can afford this. They are just choosing to approach their budgeting in the wrong way. They have been writing their budgets incorrectly and continue to do so. They are designing their budgets based on paying staff the incorrect amount of money, then funding other projects and costs, then saying there is none left for their lowest paid staff.

To do their budgeting properly, they need to start by first allocating the full money these staff are owed - including the back-pay - then see what money remains for other costs and projects.

They need to go and re-write their budgets – this is their responsibility, this is why CEO’s get highly paid, to resolve these problems rather than deprive their lowest paid staff of what they’re owed.

The Trust has saved huge amounts of money by underpaying HCAs for decades.

The Trust is struggling to recruit and retain HCAs because of low pay and is spending money on agency staff/top salaries rather than retaining vital staff.

HCAs earned and owed it, why are HCAs at our trust worth less than other NHS Trusts?

UNISON believe HCAs here at Royal Devon should be paid In line with other collective agreements e.g., The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, Livewell South West, Bristol, Manchester Foundation Trust, Stockport Trust, Tameside Trust, Northern Care Alliance Trust, Wigan Wrightington & Leigh Trust, East Cheshire Trust, Mid Cheshire Trust and most recently seen in Bedfordshire.

This is potentially thousands of pounds owed to our HCA members, here is an extract from the Bristol Agreement to demonstrate:

Workers with over four years’ service received £4,000 backpay
Workers with two to four years’ service received £3,000
and those with less than two years’ service received £2,000.

UNISON have identified that, over time, the work of Band 2 HCAs/HCSWs has evolved to incorporate elements of clinical care to the extent that it is necessary the trust to address the issue and pay the correct banding fairly across the board and pay backpay owed. 

In August 2021, there were national profiles issued that clarified the roles and responsibilities for Band 2 and Band 3 HCA/HCSW. The guidance is clear that clinical care tasks, such as recording patient observations, simple wound dressings (etc), fall within the Band 3 role.

As set out above, roles develop over time and need to be reviewed regularly to ensure job descriptions are kept up to date. We know that in some cases this hasn’t happened since the job

was first evaluated, sometimes as far back as 2006. The trust should have reviewed in line with JES standards.

We need fair upbanding across Royal Devon hospitals for all workers performing the HCA job role.

No, HCSW roles have been reviewed in several other Trusts across the South-West and nationally, mostly in response to local campaigns being run by UNISON.

UNISON have believed that all band 2 HCA/MSWs workers on NHSP as bank workers should be be automatically given a band 3 HCA/MSW assignment to enable them to take shifts as a band 2 or band 3 HCA/MSW dependant on service request and need on a shift-by-shift basis.

Yes. No one will lose their job or be downgraded. No-one will be moved or asked to undertake a role that they are not comfortable with.

If they are working at band three level, they should be paid fairly for the work they do.

Most Band 2s are performing at least 1 clinical duty, and most are performing 3 or more. 

The trust have been working HCAs at band 3 so they are owed that money regardless of whether they wish to continue as a Band 3 or remain at the Band 2 level they were employed at and just do Band 2 tasks.

Agenda for Change role profiles clear – band 2 should only perform personal care duties. To be a band 3 an HCA does not need to perform every band 3 clinical duty – just one. 

This is also in line with other collective agreements where an HCA only needed to do 1 clinical duty to qualify.

HCAs at Royal Devon are not worth less than staff at other trusts doing the exact same job.

If an employer is asking staff to work at band 3 then they need to pay band 3 wages to all affected not just some of those affected. Our members cannot accept working above their band for free and they should receive appropriate backpay.

Most HCAs have been doing patient observations and clinical duties for more than two years, in some cases many more years than that. Therefore, the two year pay step to get to the top of band 3 would already have been met.

UNISON’s position is that it is important ensure all our members are moved from band 2to the top of band 3 to avoid them potentially being at detriment.

The gap between band 2 and the bottom of band 3 is small. This gap is further eroded if HCAs undertake a high level of unsocial hours which are at a lower percentage in band 3 than they are in band 2 – a point that UNISON made in their evidence to the 2021/22 Pay Review Body.

Band 2 HCAs should automatically be put to the top of band 3 to avoid any potential risk of detriment for those members who do a high level of unsocial hours. 

This is line with NHS Terms and Conditions Of Service Handbook (AforC) 6/2010: amendment number 21 6.35 Pay on promotion should be set either at the minimum of the new pay band or, if this would result in no pay increase, the first pay point in the band which would deliver an increase in pay.

The NHS Staff Council gave helpful guidance on the interaction between promotion and unsocial hours: To ensure staff affected by this do not face a financial detriment where their working pattern remains substantially the same in their new role:

1.18 On promotion the new starting salary (made up of basic pay and any unsocial hours payment and/or any long-term recruitment and retention premium (RRP) should produce an increase in earnings. If it does not, the previous salary (basic pay plus any applicable unsocial hours payment and/or long-term RRP) will be maintained until the combination of basic pay, any unsocial hours payment and/or RRP in the new band does produce a higher salary.

Annex 23, 1.18 to 1.20 (Section 1, England) of the NHS Terms and Conditions.