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HR Director's Bulletin, Issue 93, 22 Sept 2004

  • Last modified date:
    12 September 2007

Alerts HR directors to publications, circulars and announcements from the Department of Health. It is e-mailed to HR Directors every fortnight, usually on Wednesdays.

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Introduction

HR in the NHS Bulletin

This electronic fortnightly HR Bulletin is the major means of communication between the Department of Health's NHS Workforce Directorate and its stakeholders interested in HR and related issues in the NHS. It aims to communicate important information about implementing HR policy and practice.

Comments about this bulletin

If you have any comments about this bulletin please send them to Sam Ash:

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Web Details

This issue and previous issues of the HR in the NHS Bulletin can be seen at:

1. National Minimum Wage

(Gateway reference 3851)

Employers are reminded that the national minimum wage increases take effect on 1 October 2004. All employers must ensure that they are paying the new rates, as a minimum, to all eligible staff in their organisations, from this date.

The main adult rate for workers aged 22 and over from 1 October 2004 is £4.85 per hour.

The legislation does not allow employers in the NHS to rely on backdating of new Agenda for Change rates pending the results of second ballots. Employers will, therefore, need to make arrangements to pay at least the new minimum wage until the new Agenda for Change rates can be implemented.

The national pay rates of the ancillary staffs Whitley Council affected are:

  • scale B (AK 11): spine points 7 and 9; and
  • scale C (AK 21): spine point 9.

Further information is available on the Department of Trade and Industry website at:

Information on Agenda for Change is available at:

For further information please contact Max Liversuch, tel. 0113 254 6201 or email:

2. NHS National Staff Survey 2004

(Gateway reference 3839)

Preparations for the 2004 National Staff Survey are now under way.

By now, all trusts should have made the following preparations for the survey:

  • Appointed a survey contractor
  • Ensured that staff lists are ready for sampling, and accurate in terms of trust employees on September 1st
  • Decided on optional or local questions to be included (to be communicated to the contractor)
  • Decided on what within-trust breakdown (e.g. directorate) they wish to have included in the Advice Centre report (and communicate this to contractor)
  • Agreed the precise division of labour between trust and contractor

By 1st October, all trusts should:

  • Arrange printing of the various survey documents
  • Post rooms should be informed of the forthcoming questionnaire distribution ensuring the importance of the survey and likely volume of post
  • Set up honorary contracts with contractors if home addresses are to be used
  • Communicate with trust staff about the forthcoming survey.

Details of survey documentation (including the Guidance Notes, sample questionnaires, and templates for communication with staff) can be found at:

For further information please contact Glenys Foskett, 0121 359 2491, or email:

3. NHS Confederation announces the appointment of the NHS employers' organisation director and deputy director

On 14 September 2004, Dame Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation announced the appointment of Steve Barnett as director of the NHS employers' organisation and Alastair Henderson as deputy director.

Steve is currently senior director, human resources, in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate at the Home Office where he has worked for the past three years. Prior to joining the Home Office he was deputy director of HR at the Department of Health for three years and was previously director of HR and organisational development at Central Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust. Steve will formally take up the post on 4 January 2005.

Alastair has been acting director of the employers' organisation for the past six months, from his role at the NHS Confederation, where he has been manager for workforce policy for four years.

For further information, please contact:

4. Revised launch date for new NHS employers' organisation

The Department of Health and the NHS Confederation have revised the date of the launch of the new NHS employers' organisation. The contract for the new organisation will now commence on 31 October 2004 with the organisation opening its doors for business on 1 November.

The responsibility for the HR in the NHS newsletter will be transferring to the new organisation and as a result, the autumn issue of the newsletter will now be published in November.

For further information, please contact:

5. HR in the NHS Conference 2005

The 7th Annual HR in the NHS Conference will take place at the ICC, Birmingham from Wednesday 11th to Friday 13th May 2005. Although bookings will not be taken until nearer the time, please hold the date in your diaries.

Further information will be posted in the HR in the NHS bulletin and also on the HR in the NHS website as it becomes available.

6. National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services

(Gateway reference 3779)

The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (Children's NSF) was published by the Department of Health, in collaboration with the Department for Education and Skills, on 15 September 2004. The Children's NSF is part of the government's overall Change for Children programme and sets standards across health and social services and the interface of those services with education. It is a ten-year programme intended to stimulate long-term and sustained improvement in children's health. The programme aims to ensure fair, high quality and integrated health and social care from pregnancy, right through to adulthood.

Implementation of the NSF will have significant workforce implications, including dealing with the current shortages of staff in many groups that provide services to children across both health and social care. The NSF will require services to progress activity on workforce modernisation and role redesign, with staff working in new ways across agencies and within multi-disciplinary teams. Organisations will also need to develop training strategies to ensure that all staff have the skills and continuing professional development they need to meet the standards in the NSF.

A delivery strategy giving more detail on what this means for the workforce will be published in the autumn.

For more information, please contact the Children's NSF Team on 020 7972 4908.

The NSF documents are available here:

For more information, please contact the Children's NSF Team on 020 7972 4908

7. Positive Action Project - Request for examples

(Gateway reference 3866)

The Department of Health's Equalities and Diversity team in the Workforce Directorate is currently undertaking a project on Positive Action initiatives in the NHS. The aim of the project is to produce a report for NHS trusts on the development and application of successful Positive Action initiatives. The first stage of the project is to conduct a mapping exercise of the range and type of Positive Action schemes that exist across the NHS.

The team is asking for NHS organisations to provide details about the Positive Action initiatives that are currently in place and that deal with the workforce employed or groups the organisation would like to employ. The initiatives may target any of the following groups: women, people with disabilities, young people, black and minority ethnic groups, gay and lesbian groups or people of a particular religion. The team would like to hear about all Positive Action projects in the NHS by Friday 15 October 2004.

For further information and to submit details of Positive Action initiatives please send emails to the project lead: telephone: 07789 653512 or e-mail:

8. Back in Work Awards 2005 - 'Put your back into the celebrations'

(Gateway reference 3845)

The national Back in Work campaign was launched in 2002 and is aimed at everyone who works in the NHS. The Department of Health and the Health and Safety Executive are launching their second Back in Work competition to recognise the hard work done by the NHS in raising awareness of back pain and to spotlight those who have contributed most. All NHS organisations that have been involved in the campaign are invited to submit an entry. The closing date for entries is the 19th November 2004. Winners will be announced at the National Occupational Health and Safety Conference in Manchester on the 25th and 26th January.

or contact James Hemming on 0113 254 5896, e-mail:

9. Communications

i. Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Newsletter - September Edition

(Gateway reference 3834)

The latest edition of ESR News is available on the ESR website providing an update on project progress.

For further information, please contact:

10. Press Releases

All Department of Health press releases are published on the Department's web site under 'Publications and Statistics' and then the sub heading 'Press releases'. Below we include some that may be of HR interest.

New agreement between NHS and voluntary sector, 20 September 2004, press release 2004/0339.

Statistical press notice, 17 September 2004, press release 2004/0338.

Children's charter for health and social care unveiled today, 15 September 2004, press release 2004/0336.

Response to independent inquiry into Richard Neale, 9 September 2004, press release 2004/0331.

Response to independent inquiry into Clifford Ayling, 9 September 2004, press release 2004/0330.

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