Managers' union condemns hospital demotion plan
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustA union representing some of the 144 managerial staff at Blackpool Victoria Hospital who are facing the prospect of demotion as part of a cuts plan has said the proposals risks harming safety and morale.
The Managers in Partnership (MiP) union said the change would have a negligible effects on finances but a detrimental effect on the wider service.
A consultation on the proposals - which would see the salaries of staff on pay bands 6-8 slip to one grade below - ends on 30 August.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals chief executive Maggie Oldham said "only a small number" of staff would be affected and no decision would be made until after the consultation results were known.
The NHS trust is trying to make cuts of about £500,000 through the grade change, but Jon Restell, chief executive of MiP, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Forcing staff to take pay cuts is no way to balance the books.
"It not only harms morale at a time of extraordinary financial and operational pressure, it risks undermining the trust's ability to deliver safe services for patients and puts further pressure on already stretched clinical teams.
"These managers [are] the very people tasked with delivering the transformation and organisational change work already under way at Blackpool hospital.
"Who will continue that work if the roles are downgraded? Moving these jobs to a lower pay band will not make the responsibilities they carry disappear.
"The trust needs to be clear about what work will continue and what work will stop."
Oldham said: "Although 144 job roles are involved, we currently expect only a small number of these to be affected depending on the outcome of the consultation.
"We are working directly with colleagues who may be affected by the proposed changes and their views will be considered before any decisions are made."
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