Dear Members,

We would now like to take the opportunity to explain some of the points around the agreement reached last week with management.

The agreement reached between management and UNISON did not go quite as far as we had originally hoped but it does contain many real positive outcomes. It is worth remembering that the original mandate was upheld by the trust, meaning that UNISON members could not strike while ever the trust adhered to it, however because of the strong message sent to the trust by the ballot result we were able to get engage in talks from a strong stand point and work to get a better outcome for staff.

• A Working Group will be set up in order to agree a new workforce plan that will be put to members; this will be completed in the next 4 months. The new workforce will include the reintroduction of an urgent tier.
• Agreed current pay protection arrangements for former APs will be removed with immediate effect. With all former APS moving back into Band 4 on appropriate pay spine up to pay point 15. (Those on top of Band will continue on protection and revert to pay spine 15 at end of protection period.) As a result former AP's will begin working to their original scope of practice and can therefore be asked to work together on occasions, this should not be as a matter of course and will be paid overtime etc on the band 4 rate.
• The remaining Band 3s will not work together, only work within their scope of practice and if required to work with a band 4 will only work to urgent tier level.
•   A training package will be developed to give remaining ECA staff the ability to move into the band 4 roles as part of the workforce discussions.

Ideally we would have liked to see all band 3 ECA's put on to band 4 with immediate effect, we did not achieve this at this time as the trust argued financially it would not have been possible, but we have managed to reintroduce a band 4 role into the workforce and we will endeavour to get as many onto band 4 as we can through an agreed training package.

• A rota review whereby the removal of 12 hour shifts at weekends on the 10 hour rota’s will take place, the 2 hours reduction per shift will be redeployed into weekdays as ten hour shifts, the hours will be balanced out over the length of the rota. There will also be an opportunity for staff to request to change from 12 hour rotas to 10 hour ones. We are keen for this to take place as soon as possible, as we are aware some of our members have been waiting months to come off the 12 hour rota patterns.
• The new rotas will be generic and consist of patterns with no more than 50 hours on a run and a maximum of 50 hours per week in total. Our members will be fully consulted on their individual station rotas.
• There will be full implementation of the End of Shift protection i.e. last 45 minutes can only interrupted by Red calls or the 4 green 1 codes agreed. This will only be suspended for a majax.
• The Out of Area run back will be reinstated in the north and east and will only be suspended if the DMP reaches level 3. The trust will consider implementation in other areas within 3 months.
• Any staff movement, as a result of any of the above will be kept to minimum with any movement being done in line with agreed Trust policy.
• There will be a full review of the paramedic grading in line with Agenda for Change within the next 4 months for the paramedic, the paramedic practitioner and the specialist paramedic roles. We believe this is a major step for our paramedic members and one we have been trying to resolve for many years. We were very clear that asking paramedics to effectively triage and decide on the pathways for patients we believe is a band 6 role and if that’s what they want RRVs etc to do then it should be paid at band 6. Until the above has taken place, there will be a suspension of the P1, P2, and P3 model.
• AEMT's will be phased out by March 2017. The Trust will keep working with AEMT's to support them do the paramedic training and will work to get a more flexible training model, e.g. modular training. AEMT's who do not wish to progress to paramedic, will go onto the Band 4 role, as a suitable alternative, with protection at the top of the band.  The discussions around when and how this will happen will be agreed as part of workforce discussions.
• Until the Trust have undertaken the workforce review and assessed the levels of training required, they are unable to stop using St Johns crews but have agree to review the situation with UNISON by the end of January 2015.
• The Trust has agreed a new Meal Break policy which will be implemented from        25/09/14 and will be reviewed in 3 months. At the end of the review period, the branch committee will consult and get feedback from members as to how the policy as worked and been applied.
• The new meal break policy will now give two separate breaks on any shift over ten hours, one is your unpaid meal break and will be taken back on base station, you should be sent back to station within your window, and only disturbed on your route back for the R1,R2 and G1 (CVA, RTC, Maternity, Fitting). Once booked on meal break you cannot be disturbed. 
• The other 15 minute rest break is a paid break; the trust will send you to a facilitated point, usually a standby point or nearest station. You can only be disturbed on the rest break for a confirmed red 1, if you are disturbed twice you will be stood down for an undisturbed 15 minute break. The whole 15 minutes needs to be taken in one go otherwise, if you are disturbed at any point you start the 15 minutes again once stood down again.        
• If any of the breaks go out of the window you will be stood down for an undisturbed break, meal at base station, rest break at facilitated point.
• A key point of the two breaks is that the crew can decide in which order to take the breaks, for example on a morning shift you may not want your meal at ten in the morning, so if the meal break is taken in the second window, have your meal nearer normal lunch time and you will be guaranteed to get back to your own station and area, undisturbed return if out of window, and only given R1,R2,G1 (Fitting, CVA, RTC, Maternity) if in window.
• Twelve and eleven hour shifts will accrue 15 minutes per shift which will reduce the relief / annual leave weeks (so less hours required during  annual leave weeks, or less hours on relief )
• The meal break is a Trial for three months

Once all the above work as taken place, a full new package will be put to members, to include the full work force plan, Paramedic review, Band 4 role, tech to para pathway (modular training etc), urgent tier etc etc  for you the UNISON member to decide to accept or reject in a vote. The final decision whether to accept the new package will always be in the hands of our members, not the branch committee; we have as always tried to get the best possible deal for members.

Please be aware that throughout all the above discussions, ACAS and the Unison Regional Officer were present.

Should any of the above not take place, or not take place in agreed timescales, then we have made it clear, our members will be balloted again.

Please do not hesitate to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further clarification or to comment.