EE has announced that it is offering a new long-term package of benefits for NHS workers in Scotland – alongside NHS staff in all parts of the UK – as part of its continued support and thanks to NHS staff.
More than 300,000 NHS workers across the UK are already receiving unlimited data2. From this summer, EE will offer customers that have used up their monthly allowance access to mobile data at no extra cost at a speed fast enough* for instant messaging, web browsing and streaming music and video.
NHS workers new to EE or upgrading will also benefit from 20% off their monthly price plan with the option to extend this for to up four friends or family members.
NHS workers will also be offered priority mobile phone repairs, so if their phone breaks, EE will fast-track it to be fixed. Customers can do this by popping into an EE store, or a courier will be sent to collect their handset whether that’s at home or at work. Customers can also borrow a replacement phone from one of EE’s stores while the repair is taking place3.
The new EE NHS offer is open for new registrations online from July 7th2021, to all EE pay monthly customers who have a valid NHS email address or NHS photo ID. It is also available to NHS workers who have already signed-up to the existing unlimited data offer, and they will be enrolled onto the new offer automatically.
Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s Consumer Division, said:“We’re expanding our NHS offer to continue to support the people who work so selflessly to help us all.
“One in five of the over 1.6 million NHS workers in the UK are currently benefitting from our existing NHS offer, and we want to carry on doing our bit to connect those who need it most.”
For more information on the NHS Heros offer, please visit ee.co.uk
An NHS pay deal which offers an average increase of 4% will be immediately implemented after the majority of NHS unions voted to accept the biggest pay uplift since devolution.
The increase covers 16 months, having been backdated to 1 December 2020 in recognition of an exceptional year of significant pressure for staff. This comes on top of the £500 thank you payment for health and social care workers.
Benefiting around 154,000 employees covered by the ‘Agenda for Change’ NHS pay and grading system – including nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals, as well as domestic staff, porters and healthcare support staff plus other front line health workers – this is the most generous increase anywhere in the UK. Staff should expect to receive payments, including the backdated uplift, this summer.
Staff on pay bands 1 to 7, almost 95% of Agenda for Change staff, will receive at least a 4% pay rise compared to 2020/21. This means those on the lowest Agenda for Change pay point will get a 5.4% increase and those on the highest pay points will receive uplifts of £800.
The UK Government’s submission to the NHS Pay Review body (PRB) provided for a £250 uplift for staff earning less than £24,000 and 1% for all other NHS Agenda for Change staff. Assuming the Department of Health in England maintains its current position, staff in Scotland will be considerably better off in 2021-22.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “I am delighted that unions representing a majority of NHS staff have voted to accept our offer of a pay rise of 4% on average.
“We all rely on the hard work and dedication of NHS Scotland, and never more so than during this pandemic. This pay rise, the biggest pay uplift for NHS staff since devolution recognises the unwavering commitment of NHS Scotland staff.
“If the Department of Health sticks with the offer it has proposed, staff in Scotland will be considerably better off in 2021-22 than their counterparts in England.
“This has been an exceptionally challenging year for our health service and I am delighted that the Scottish Government has been able to recognise the service and dedication of our healthcare staff. On behalf of us all, thank you for all you have done and for all you continue to do.”
On 24 March the Scottish Government announced a pay offer for Action for Change employees which unions agreed to take to staff. The pay offer is:
Bands 1 – 4: a flat uplift of £1,009
Bands 5 – 7: a 4% uplift
Bands 8a – 8c: a 2% uplift
Bands 8D – 9: a flat uplift of £800
NHS staff side met on May 12th following the closure of the staff ballot on the Agenda for Change pay deal. Seven of the nine unions representing AfC staff have voted to accept the deal. While support for the deal was not unanimous, a clear majority of staff who voted wish to accept it.
British Dietetic Association
Accept
College of Podiatrists
Accept
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
Accept
GMB
Reject
RCM
Accept
RCN
Reject
Society of Radiographers
Accept
UNISON
Accept
Unite
Accept
Assuming the Department of Health in England maintains its current position, staff in Scotland will be considerably better off in 2021-22:
Pay for a porter at the top of Band 2 will be over £2,028 more
Pay for a healthcare assistant at the top of Band 3 will be over £2,211 more
Pay for a healthcare support worker at the top of Band 4 will be over £1,583 more
Pay for a ward nurse at the top of Band 5 will be over £1,994 more
Pay for a paramedic at the top of Band 6 will be nearly £2,467 more
Pay for an advanced nurse practitioner at the top of Band 7 will be over £2,898 more.
Agenda for Change is the NHS pay system for all staff directly employed by NHS Health Boards with the exception of Medical and Dental staff who are within the remit of the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body, and Executive and Senior Management staff. Across the UK, the system applies to over one million NHS staff and in NHS Scotland approximately 154,000 NHS Staff are on these terms and conditions of service.
GMB workplace representatives in NHS Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service will recommend its members vote to reject the Scottish Government’s pay offer when a consultative ballot is launched next month.
The recommendation to reject comes ahead of a public demonstration by NHS nurses and staff later today at George Square, Glasgow, against the Scottish Government’s pay offer for 2021-22.
GMB Scotland will launch a consultative ballot of its entire NHS Scotland and Scottish Ambulance Service membership from Monday 12 April, which will run until 12.00 hours on Wednesday 5 May.
GMB Scotland Organiser Karen Leonard said:“The offer doesn’t value our members properly, it doesn’t restore the pay they’ve lost after a decade of cuts, and it doesn’t secure their future. That’s why are recommending its rejection.
“We see this pay offer for what it is: a pre-election punt by an outgoing Health Secretary that looks better than it really is when put up against the insulting 1 per cent increase for our NHS colleagues in England.
“It’s been a wretched year for our NHS workers and the COVID-19 pandemic has not only pushed them beyond their limits, but it’s also exposed the many underlying problems in our NHS because of its managed political decline over the last ten years.
“After all the applause, we strongly believe the Scottish Government can and should go further on our members’ pay, and it’s the least Ministers can do after everything our NHS staff have done for all of us.”
UNISON, Scotland’s biggest health union, will hold socially distanced demonstrations across Scotland tomorrow (18 August). The demonstrations are the next stage in UNISON’s campaign for a pay rise for NHS staff.
UNISON Pay up Now campaign is thanking the public and asking them for their continued support for a NHS pay rise.
The trade union is calling on the Scottish Government to reopen the NHS three year pay deal, and for ministers to sit down with the trade unions to discuss a pay rise for all NHS staff.
NHS staff have had real term pay cuts over the last decade with significant extra costs over this pandemic. Including extra childcare costs because they are working extra shifts, extra transport costs because of restricted public transport, extra costs because they have being isolating from family, or even extra laundry costs and buying personal PPE.
NHS staff have been working long hours and many report being mentally and physically exhausted. Their response to this pandemic has been heroic.
Tom Waterson, chair of UNISON Scotland health committee said:“UNISON are organising socially distanced demonstrations across Scotland on Tuesday 18 August to show the strength of feeling of NHS staff about pay.
“The public support for our heroic NHS workers throughout this pandemic has been amazing. Thursday night clapping was hugely appreciated by health workers across the UK.
“However the reality is that NHS workers have seen their pay eroded over the past decade and some NHS staff are amongst the lower paid in Scotland. So please continue your support for NHS workers. They deserve it.”
NHS workers held demonstrations all across the UK on Saturday to demand a 15% pay rise for ALL sectors within the service.
Campaigners sent a clear message to the government: We do not accept your plans to exclude us from the public sector pay increase, and we will make ourselves heard until you listen!
Jennifer Gough Brown sent these images from the Edinburgh demo at the Scottish Parliament:
AN EDINBURGH hotel chef who fed thousands of NHS workers during the Coronavirus pandemic reveals how they helped fuel frontline medics.
Alan Dickson, Executive Chef at Surgeons Quarter, was part of the star hospitality team which kept Ten Hill Place Hotel open to accommodate NHS workers for free in March and April.
At the beginning, Alan took the decision to strip the usual menus back, focusing on ensuring the team had enough tinned goods, flour, and yeast to last them six weeks.
Alan, who lives in Edinburgh, said: “Working in the kitchen was instantly different – there were three chefs on rotation with only one working at a time. We brought in new health and safety precautions immediately, we couldn’t take any risks with the NHS staff who were staying with us.
“Like most people, we didn’t really know what we were about to face at the start of the pandemic. We knew fresh fish and meats would be a little more difficult to get, so we redesigned the menu around what we had available.
“As we got to know NHS workers by name and regularly caught up with them after their hectic shifts, we began to appreciate how much many of them were missing their home comforts, so we changed our menus accordingly.
“We served lots of chicken curry, lasagnes – the type of home cooked meals you’d have with your family. It meant a lot to us to be able to provide some sort of support to the people at the very front of this pandemic.”
The Hotel, which is owned by Surgeons Quarter, the commercial arm of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, took the decision to provide more than 2,000 nights of free accommodation and meals for frontline medics working at Edinburgh’s hospitals.
Alan was thrilled with the small part Ten Hill Place staff played in providing respite to hardworking frontline staff.
He continuued: “There wasn’t much we could do, but like everyone else we wanted to help in the one way we could – with our food and expertise. Our guests were fantastic, they were so grateful for the opportunity to stay nearby the hospitals between shifts.
“Our suppliers were also brilliant at communicating with us. We worked with one amazing butcher and one fruit and veg supplier – Campbells Prime Meat and Mark Murphy Fruit and Veg – who were able to source what we needed.
“We ended up sourcing around 200kg of sausages, and 200kg of bacon for cooked breakfasts – as well as providing healthy packs our medics could take to work, with fruit, yoghurt and water bottles.”
Alan joined Ten Hill Place in 2014 and was awarded Hotel Chef of the Year 2017 at the Scottish Hotel Awards.
The hotel reopened on 15 July in accordance with Scottish Government guidance.
Cafe 1505 and Drinks & Dining at Ten Hill Place Hotel are both taking part in the Eat Out to Dine Out scheme for the duration of August.
Guests can receive 50% off their bill in the cafe or the restaurant, to a maximum value of £10, at any time from Monday – Wednesday.
Profits from the Hotel go towards the College’s charitable objectives of improving access to surgery and saving lives worldwide.
Ten Hill Place Hotel gave a total of 2,137 free room nights to NHS staff working in Edinburgh’s hospitals between March – May this year.
My name is Claire McKenzie, I am a staff nurse working in the NHS, Scotland. I love, love my job! It has taken me a long time to get here.
I have always wanted to be a nurse from a very young age, but I didn’t go into nursing until I retrained in my 30’S. My working career started when I was 16 as an office junior, living and working in Newcastle.
When I was 19 I moved to Scotland to work on a farm as Farm Secretary after attending agricultural collage. I have worked in various types of administrative roles, working up the ladder and my salary increased accordingly.
When I had my first child, I decided to retrain as a nurse, because I didn’t want to spend the next 40 years working in an office, regretting not fulfilling my dream of becoming a nurse. I spent the next 4 years in higher education to gain my degree in Nursing. I have worked up the banding levels and I am now at the top of my level, as are 47% of the nursing work force.
Working as a nurse is rewarding, but it can be punishing, both physically and mentally – I hear people comment: “you chose to become a nurse, why are you complaining?” I did choose this, but want to highlight that, in order to do my job, I need the support from other staff.
But these staff are non-existent as posts have not been filled – in Scotland, 5.6% of nursing and midwifery posts (3,607) remain vacant as per the figures provided in December 2019.
Wards cannot afford to pay for agency staff (I would like to say at this point agency staff should not be demonised! They have their heads screwed on, knowing their worth and getting paid for it!) unless the ward is running dangerously low on nurses and clinical support staff.
The Scottish Government’s Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act, scheduled to come into force towards the end of 2020, will place a duty on NHS and social care providers to make sure that, at all times, there are suitably qualified and competent staff working in the right numbers looking after the most vulnerable groups in our society. My question is, how?
As a work force, we are running at full throttle, doing a job of two being paid at 2010 rates but living in a world of 2020 expense. As a work force, people are having to pick up extra hours, if you work on the bank you are taxed more because this is classed as luxury earnings – this extra money is not for luxury but for necessity! Where is the work life balance?
When the government announced a pay rise for public sector works, I thought “Yay” recognition at last, only to be very disappointed. Personally, I do not begrudge the pay rise announcement for others; they are entitled to it, I am however very embittered tha,t as a whole workforce, our efforts have been belittled – not by the public, as 77% support the NHS workers to get a pay rise.
As stated, we as a workforce are being paid at 2010 rates, living in 2020 being expected to be able to survive paying for the basics. That’s why as a workforce we are DEMANDING a pay rise, why would anybody take on further work but get paid for less? That’s right, we are the NHS! Enough is enough.
#NHSworkersayno #NHSpay15
To highlight the disappointment, Nurses have rallied together, creating a Facebook group attracting over 70,000 members from all sectors of the NHS (without official support from the unions) and have organised demonstrations across the UK.
So far approximately 33 have been organised to coincide at 11am this Saturday (8 August 2020).
The Edinburgh demonstration will take place outside the Scottish Parliament building in Holyrood.
FRONTLINE workers leading the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Edinburgh are booking in to the city’s largest independent hotel after it committed to offering free rooms and meals.
Since opening its doors on Friday evening to help clinical and medical staff at the capital’s hospitals, Ten Hill Place witnessed more than 232 room nights booked over the weekend into Wednesday, accommodating guests over the coming weeks.
The hotel, owned by The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and operated by Surgeons Quarter, is located less than a mile from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and three miles from the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
It is now calling on even more workers to make use of its 129 bedrooms – and as well as offering a continental packed breakfast it is also now including a free evening meal courtesy of its award-winning catering team.
The huge effort has drawn praise from the RCSEd President, Professor Michael Griffin, regarded as one of the UK’s leading surgeons. He said: “COVID-19 is unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes – and I know the strain it is putting across all aspects of our wonderful health service.
“The team at Ten Hill Place are giving tired workers vital respite to allow them to focus on caring for the country.
“The decision by Scott Mitchell, supported very strongly by myself and our team, to open the Hotel up to healthcare workers who are finding it difficult to get in on public transport was a brave but generous one. We are helping them to help us, our families and our friends as they fall ill from any condition, not just COVID-19.
“We simply can’t put a value on this. The work Surgeons Quarter has been doing is truly outstanding and admirable – everyone at the College is extremely proud.”
Scott Mitchell, Managing Director at Surgeons Quarter, said: “This is a really challenging time for everyone in the world.
“We are happy to be able to play a small part in helping to make the lives of our heroic Medical and Clinical workforce at the frontline of Scotland’s response to COVID-19 that little bit easier.
“We have been taken aback by the positive response to opening the hotel to NHS staff and the wider Medical and Clinical workforce and want to encourage those who are able to take advantage of our city centre location to get in touch.
“Ten Hill Place has 129 hotel rooms which are available to a variety of key workers carrying a valid hospital photographic identity card or similar. Please contact the hotel on 0131 662 2080 or by email at reservations@tenhillplace.com to make your booking.
“We look forward to continuing to welcome and looking after our NHS staff and wider Clinical and Medical workforce over the next few weeks.”
As well as the commitment to hospital staff, the RCSEd has engaged with the Chief Medical Officer to declare its willingness to temporarily convert the hotel, should hospitals overflow.
Surgeons Quarter has also pledged to pay all 76 salaried and contracted staff over at least the next three months, while adding discretionary sick pay at full levels.
Surgeons Quarter promotes, sells and manages all commercial activities held within the RCSEd campus. All profits support the charitable aims of the College which are education, assessment and advancement in surgical standards worldwide.
Many NHS workers have said that they are struggling to buy the products they need at the beginning or the end of their shift, as supermarkets have seen unprecedented demand.
So we’re responding by introducing an NHS hour at all our stores at the beginning of every day, Monday to Saturday, so NHS workers can shop for groceries for themselves and their families.
This will be from 7am to 8am and a Morrisons colleague will be on the door to let staff with an NHS badge in.
Our new opening hours for all our other customers are 8am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday. On Sundays we’ll be open as usual.
We promise to play our part in feeding the nation – it’s more than our job.
