UNISON Stance on Paramedic Banding
UNISON strongly believes that all paramedics should be paid band 6.
The level of responsibility and autonomy practised within the role, including triage, referrals, and decisions around non conveyance, which is carried out by ALL paramedics makes band 6 appropriate, irrespective of the type of vehicle they are deployed on.
UNISON has stated this during negotiation on the workforce plan with YAS and will continue to push for this within the consultation.
At least 2 other Ambulance Trusts in the country are now paying all paramedics at band 6 and we urge YAS to do the same, both in recognition of the roles that all paramedics currently carry out and in the interests of recruitment and retention, which are major problems within the Trust.
Some time ago YAS UNISON applied for a review of the paramedic job description and banding based on the progression within the role in the years since Agenda for Change was introduced. In early January a Job Evaluation panel was convened to carry out the review and to evaluate/match the proposed Paramedic Plus role. The Paramedic Plus was agreed to be band 6, but when it came to the general paramedics YAS disagreed with UNISONs position. The next step in this 'blocked' process is for it to be reviewed at a national level. UNISON is pushing for this to happen as soon as possible but we know that this is likely to be a slow process.
Part of the pay offer made by the Secretary of State for Health stated that ambulance trusts should work with the Ambulance Unions to address current recruitment and retention issues, either through changes to the use of job profiles and bandings or through application of recruitment and retention (R&R) premia , a special temporary uplift, included in Agenda for Change, which can be applied to pay in circumstances where there is difficulty with recruitment and retention, clearly the case for paramedics currently.
UNISON believes there are over 80 paramedic vacancies in YAS, which has a knock on effect to workload, and patient care. Last week, the government included paramedics on the priority list for immigration into Britain because of the shortage across the country.
At some point in the future the HPC are likely to specify that the registered paramedics qualification must be degree level. Within Agenda for Change, this would increase the evaluation points for paramedics significantly and put them clearly within Band 6. (As long as Agenda for Change continues to be implemented at a national level, which cannot be guaranteed if there is not a change of government,) this is another possible route for a justified banding uplift for paramedics.
UNISON YAS believe that the long term answer has to lie with job evaluation and will push this all the way, however, as a secondary measure, we will also continue to push for R&R to be applied, at a local and national level, in the interim, and asks members to support this campaign.
