Preparing for UNISON Health Conference

Yesterday I attended my first SGE working group since being elected to the SGE a year ago. Unlike the NEC, which seems to have many meetings of its many sub-committees, meetings of the Health SGE working group are infrequent at best.

Yesterday, the 'Conference Review' working group met. There was some discussion about what we met for, though, as some members felt we should be making an initial stab at preparing the SGE for the conference - reviewing the preliminary agenda, considering whether to recommend the SGE supports or opposes particular motions and drafting possible amendments. Objections that the SGE as a whole had to make the decisions missed the crucial point, I thought, that all that preparation is done already, but done by officers of the union, and not by lay members. It did seem reasonable to me that a lay member working group might do some of it, but we didn't. We are going to suggest that the SGE give clear terms of reference to its working parties for the future though, so maybe next year we will.

What we did do was consider some practical arrangements of the health conference, which this year will be at the Manchester Central Convention Centre from April 14th to the 16th.

We heard that focus groups were planned on Safer Hospitals, Local involvement in scrutiny, Private contractors and Agenda for Change, the UNISON structures review, NHS Procurement, Equality Impact Assessments, Partnership, and 'An Alternative Vision for the NHS'. Fringe meetings are planned covering: the ambulance sector, violence and assaults on NHS staff, Occupational Therapy, Professional Regulation, Speaking Out in the NHS, Cuba Solidarity, Agency workers and the Nursing Sector.

I said that I thought there were some vital issues missing from that list. Not least, that there should be some discussion of pay strategy, given the disquiet that many branches and activists felt about the 2007 campaign and the need to learn lessons and agree a strategy for pay in the future. Other valid points to support this were also made - that the Pay Review Body would have reported the 2008 recommendation by the time of conference, and delegates would expect an opportunity to discuss it; and that the SGE would be expected to show a lead in developing a strategy given that this would be the first year that the PRB applied directly to everyone in the NHS. I also spoke up for sessions, either fringe meetings or focus groups, on: Ill-health Retirement changes, preparing for the on-call review, primary care and the threat of private providers, Admin and Clerical de-skilling and, crucially, UNISON recruitment, given that the 2007 recruitment figures show that only one region of the health service group has improved recruitment since 2006.

We didn't take any kind of vote, but the officers agreed to take our suggestions away and consider them.

I am really surprised and disappointed that no official fringe or focus group has been set up on pay. The idea that everything that can or need be said on pay will happen in the debate on the motions at conference is simply wrong - learning from each other about what works in branches for involving members in pay campaigns is critical, as is discussing strategy and tactics in a forum which allows for more than just three-minute set-piece speeches from a rostrum. Wen NEC members are agreeing that "we must use every opportunity to talk about our pay" it seems bizarre that the fringe at UNISON health conference is not seen as such an opportunity. Hopefully this oversight will be put right soon.

We agreed that the focus groups should be more interactive. The whole point of them was that they would give delegates more time to discuss with each other instead of sitting passively as an audience, yet in recent years, the 'introductions' have got longer and the invited speakers lists or panels increased. There was general agreement that this trend should be reversed.

The 'strapline' for the backdrop at conference has apparently not yet been agreed, although there is some thought that it should reflect the fact that this is the sixtieth anniversary year for the NHS. I really hope that we end up with something which stresses the need for healthworkers to organise to defend the public nature of the health service: the slogan of conference is the clearest message people take away from the conference, and it's simply wasted if it doesn't reflect reality. My current best suggestion is "UNISON: organising to defend a public NHS" but I'm open to improved ideas. Just email me, or comment on this article.

There will be one guest speaker each day at health conference. Hopefully Dave Prentis, UNISON's General Secretary will attend, and an invitation has gone to the Department of Health. The suggestion was made that rather than a staged Q-and-A session, it would be better for the Government's representative to be part of a panel discussion with other speakers who might be able to challenge them in a more sustained fashion. I think we could find plenty of volunteers to join such a panel amongst the delegates to the conference, but apparently, "experts" are being sought.

Nancy Kirkland, President of the NMC and a UNISON member, has also been invited to speak at the conference, as has the President of the Malawi Civil Servants' Union, which includes many health workers amongst its membership.

We were told that the SGE report to the conference was nearing completion. I asked when we would get to approve the text, but apparently this doesn't happen - apart from possibly the chairing team (views were mixed on this) the lay members of the SGE do not get to see the "SGE report" until after it has been printed. I said that given the report was presented to the conference in our names I thought this was a problem, and George Barron, who was chairing the meeting, agreed to look into getting the text circulated to the SGE membership.

The working group will meet again nearer to conference itself, so I will be able to report back to branches in the East Midlands on whether any of our suggestions for additional fringe meetings are taken up.