Health workers told – no money for study

STAFF EMPLOYED by Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust were recently
told that they will not be sponsored to attend training courses that
would have given them registered nurse qualifications after three years’
university study.

John Malcolm, chair UNISON Tees and North East Yorkshire
health branch, personal capacity

The staff members, mainly health care assistants, were promised the
opportunity to study on full pay with a guarantee of a job within the
trust on qualification. A number of UNISON members have protested after
being told two weeks before the start of the course that funding is no
longer available. This is despite having contracts from the trust
detailing the terms of the sponsorship scheme.

UNISON had welcomed the scheme as it was a good way of addressing the
shortage of qualified nurses as well as providing an opportunity for
staff to develop their theoretical knowledge along with their valuable
work experience and skills.

According to The Guardian the Royal College of Surgeons has serious
concerns about these training cuts: "We are having reports coming
through from the north-east, around Newcastle, from the east of England,
from the West Midlands, of an average 10% being taken from funding….
In the east of England the budget for multi-professional educational
training is nearly £291million and they are looking to save £25 million
– an 8.6% reduction. In the north-east, where the budget is £199
million, the reduction is 10.6%."

UNISON has been informed that funding from the strategic health
authority has been withheld in order to cut the NHS deficits. These cuts
also affect medical training and could have a drastic affect on patient
care.

The only alternative for the staff affected will be to try and obtain
a student bursary. But this falls well short of a living wage and
therefore excludes the majority of staff on the sponsorship scheme who
have mortgages and families to support.

UNISON policy is for all students to receive a living wage rather
than the meagre bursary currently on offer, which leads to many students
having to do agency work to supplement their income.