UNISON has called on the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and the other remaining members of the south west NHS pay cartel to pull out.
The union wants assurances from the Trusts that they will not be re-entering the cartel in the event that national negotiations fail to produce changes to terms and conditions that the cartel was seeking.
The RD&E was initially one of 20 trusts in the South West to sign up to a group dubbed a pay cartel by unions that was looking to move away from the nationally agreed pay and conditions settlement called Agenda for Change.
The move attracted controversy from the outset amid fears it would lead to an attack on staff and their pay and conditions of up to 15 per cent in real terms.
Several large-scale protests have been held across the region with staff claiming the move had left morale at an all-time low.
But as a result of a fresh national deal being approved over a third of the cartel Trusts have fully ended their involvement over the last few weeks.The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, despite pledging support for national negotiations, is among those to have remained in it.
Bosses at the RD&E said they wanted to keep options open if national agreements fail to achieve the necessary savings.
And Unison has this week expressed concern that the cartel is merely 'sleeping' and could be resurrected at a moment's notice. They said one of the cartel's proposals was to reinstate its work if at any time Trusts felt that national negotiations were not going far enough.
Lisa Youlton, UNISON South West Regional Manager, said: "We have been encouraged at the number of Trusts which have withdrawn from the cartel. Many of those have given their staff a clear and unequivocal statement that they have ended all involvement with the cartel and will not be associating with it in the future.
"For example, Dorset Healthcare pointed to the disaster at Mid Staffs and post Francis world and effect on the morale of their staff as their reason for departing the cartel. Similar news came from Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust on 3 April with the Trust announcing that it was leaving the cartel and saying 'It did not intend to join a reformed Consortium in the future'.
"What we want to see is a clear and unequivocal statement from Trusts that they are committed to national terms and conditions and have turned their back on what was an ill conceived attempt to introduce regional pay.
"Those Trusts spent £200,000 of public money, money that should have been spent on patient care. A third of those Trusts have now turned their back on the cartel and we want an assurance from the remainder that they will do the same."
In a statement a spokesman for the RD&E said that although it was fully committed to the national agreement it would return to the consortium if national agreements could not generate the necessary savings.
The spokesman said: "The Board of the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that it will be implementing in full the recent national changes to Agenda for Change, in conjunction with Staffside, from March 31.
"The trust board is aware that national negotiations are continuing and the intention is to follow national agreements.
"However, it also noted that in the event of national negotiations failing to deliver the level of change to effect savings required, it would consider reinstating the South West consortium approach."
The union wants assurances from the Trusts that they will not be re-entering the cartel in the event that national negotiations fail to produce changes to terms and conditions that the cartel was seeking.
The RD&E was initially one of 20 trusts in the South West to sign up to a group dubbed a pay cartel by unions that was looking to move away from the nationally agreed pay and conditions settlement called Agenda for Change.
The move attracted controversy from the outset amid fears it would lead to an attack on staff and their pay and conditions of up to 15 per cent in real terms.
Several large-scale protests have been held across the region with staff claiming the move had left morale at an all-time low.
But as a result of a fresh national deal being approved over a third of the cartel Trusts have fully ended their involvement over the last few weeks.The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, despite pledging support for national negotiations, is among those to have remained in it.
Bosses at the RD&E said they wanted to keep options open if national agreements fail to achieve the necessary savings.
And Unison has this week expressed concern that the cartel is merely 'sleeping' and could be resurrected at a moment's notice. They said one of the cartel's proposals was to reinstate its work if at any time Trusts felt that national negotiations were not going far enough.
Lisa Youlton, UNISON South West Regional Manager, said: "We have been encouraged at the number of Trusts which have withdrawn from the cartel. Many of those have given their staff a clear and unequivocal statement that they have ended all involvement with the cartel and will not be associating with it in the future.
"For example, Dorset Healthcare pointed to the disaster at Mid Staffs and post Francis world and effect on the morale of their staff as their reason for departing the cartel. Similar news came from Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust on 3 April with the Trust announcing that it was leaving the cartel and saying 'It did not intend to join a reformed Consortium in the future'.
"What we want to see is a clear and unequivocal statement from Trusts that they are committed to national terms and conditions and have turned their back on what was an ill conceived attempt to introduce regional pay.
"Those Trusts spent £200,000 of public money, money that should have been spent on patient care. A third of those Trusts have now turned their back on the cartel and we want an assurance from the remainder that they will do the same."
In a statement a spokesman for the RD&E said that although it was fully committed to the national agreement it would return to the consortium if national agreements could not generate the necessary savings.
The spokesman said: "The Board of the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that it will be implementing in full the recent national changes to Agenda for Change, in conjunction with Staffside, from March 31.
"The trust board is aware that national negotiations are continuing and the intention is to follow national agreements.
"However, it also noted that in the event of national negotiations failing to deliver the level of change to effect savings required, it would consider reinstating the South West consortium approach."
