Apr 25 2007
Health minister Andy Burnham got a mixed reception when he spoke to UNISON's health conference in Brighton.
Delegates welcomed his announcement that, after union representation, the government was lifting the threat of "outsourcing or off-shoring" jobs at the Prescription Pricing Department.
However, his defence of the decision to stage this year's pay award as "a decision taken in the interests of the economy as a whole" had less support.
In general though, the minister's speech was listened to in polite silence as he vowed a different 10 years ahead for the NHS than the decade just gone.
The 1997 Labour government inherited a situation where the debate was whether the NHS could survive, he said. That was no longer the case; now the debate was how best to deliver health care.
And Mr Burnham, whose portfolio includes reform delivery, as well as PFI, said the past decade of top-down targets had served its purpose and the future would see much more priority setting at local level, which would mean more input from staff.
He also recognised that the past financial year, marked by cuts and redundancies, had been a difficult one and the government had "asked a lot of NHS staff".
But with the NHS "now back on a sound financial footing", Mr Burnham expressed his desire to revitalise Agenda for Change - particularly the knowledge and skills framework, which took a swipe after budget constraints saw many NHS trusts cut their training budget.
This was a subject close to conference's heart: the previous afternoon it had agreed a number of motions on protecting Agenda for Change from attacks by trusts trying to impose local pay and conditions packages and training cuts.
Mr Burnham promised an end to major restructuring and boundary changes, though warned that there was still "work to be done" in the primary care sector.
And he made a point of mentioning last November's UNISON-led NHS Together lobby as "impressive in itself" while hoping "it will prove to be a turning point and build a better dialogue between us".
http://www.unison.uk/