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Commitment on NHS pay deal
12/06/2007
NHS staff in Scotland will receive their 2.5 per cent unstaged pay award next month after Nicola Sturgeon took action today to deliver on the Pay Review body's recommendation.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing told Scottish NHS staff at a conference in Glasgow that the uplift would be included in July's pay packets, backdated to April 1.
Ms Sturgeon also said that tackling health inequalities in Scotland's most disadvantaged communities would be at the forefront of the Scottish government's health improvement agenda over the coming months, with alcohol a key focus for action.
Ms Sturgeon said: "When I took up my post, I was concerned to find that the 2.5 per cent unstaged pay award - recommended by the Pay Review body and agreed by the previous administration - had not been implemented.
"I am aware that there are continuing discussions at a UK level in relation to staff covered by the PNC. However, I wrote to unions confirming my intention to honour the commitment to a 2.5 per cent unstaged award and to express my desire to see the money in pay packets as soon as possible.
"It is clear from responses that I have received that there is a need to effect a balance between the natural desire of unions to ensure that their members receive agreed pay rises as soon as is practically possible, and the need to take account of the fact that there are still unresolved pay discussions affecting a significant number of NHS Scotland staff at UK level.
"Taking all of these factors into account, I have decided that I will issue the pay circulars to enable the pay uplift to be made in July. I hope that this decision demonstrates that I greatly value the commitment, dedication and professionalism of NHS Scotland staff."
Ms Sturgeon also said that tackling alcohol issues would be at the forefront of the government's health improvement agenda. She said:
"We need a renewed emphasis on the burden alcohol places not only on our health service, but on our country as a whole. While we can welcome the falling numbers of people developing lung cancer, the rising incidence of liver disease highlights the grip alcohol has over many people.
"The smoking ban will have a positive effect, and sets the right tone for what we want to achieve. But it is time to intensify that approach and change the drinking culture prevalent across Scotland.
"Changing attitudes to alcohol will be a long term campaign. A campaign we will need to enforce. A campaign I hope the health service, politicians and the drinks industry will join us in fighting."
Ms Sturgeon emphasised the drive to build a health service which put patients first, saying:
"We have listened to people - patients, their families, health staff - and we will take forward progressive plans to improve the health of Scots, the health of the nation.
"I welcomed the Kerr Report when it was published, and the principles described in the report are still valid today. We want to provide sustainable and safe services, delivered locally in both urban and rural areas. We want to focus on anticipatory care, rather than the reactive management of problems once they have occurred. And we want to design and deliver services that meet patients' needs and to develop options for change with people, rather than for them.
"By the end of the year, the Scottish Government will publish an action plan that will demonstrate how we intend to take forward our principles for healthcare and provide a timetable for action over the next few years.
"This strategy will set out how we intend to help people to sustain and improve their health, especially in disadvantaged communities, ensuring better, local and faster access to health care. The strategy will set out how this goal will be delivered by a health system that supports and empowers patients, their families and their communities.
"A health service that makes it easy for you to have an active role in promoting your health and the way in which your care is delivered. A health service that encourages you to have your say, listens to you and ensures that your views are taken into account.
"This strategy will be founded on a determination to provide services as locally as possible. We believe that in making decisions about services which people value so highly, there should be a clear policy presumption against centralisation.
"We are fully committed to ensuring that patients are consulted on all the major service decisions that affect them. Fully committed to ensuring that consultation means genuine consultation. It is not about selling a solution it is about arriving at that solution. It is not about getting our own way. It is about going out of our way to meet the needs of those we are trying to serve.
"And we will also seek to develop and sustain a way of working, in which patients and their carers become genuine partners in the way in which their care is designed and delivered. Where they feel that they are taken seriously and have their views respected."