THREE of the region's hospital trusts clashed with Labour yesterday, over claims they were part of growing moves to introduce lower 'local pay' for staff.

 

Andy Burnham, the party's health spokesman, targeted a total of nine trusts across England, which he said were attempting to "break away from national pay in the NHS".

And, vowing to fight any such deals, he said: "The NHS is fragmenting before our eyes. National pay is part of what holds our national service together. It is being broken apart - and ministers are doing absolutely nothing about it."

 

But the trusts hit back, insisting the changes were either supported by staff, or designed to improve their skills - not to save cash.

The row blew up when Mr Burnham released a dossier, which highlighted:

 

* North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust - over "plans to sack over 5,000 staff members early next year and re-hire them on reduced terms and conditions"

* Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust - for "freezing pay increments for staff who do not complete seven mandatory training modules, or who do not receive an appraisal in a 12-month period".

* Sunderland City Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - over a policy to "freeze the pay increment of any member of staff who does not receive an annual appraisal or complete certain training modules".

Mr Burnham called on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to step in, when he speaks in a Labour-led Commons debate today (Wednesday, November 7) on the controversy.

 

And he said: "National pay is fair to staff, brings stability to the health service and keeps costs under control. Just as we warned, the 'N' in NHS is now under sustained attack."

But North Tees and Hartlepool trust insisted it had no plans to rehire staff on worse conditions, merely to end extra payments to staff rostered to work unsocial hours, or on bank holidays - but who were off sick.

 

And it insisted a survey found two-thirds of staff supported removing the payments, which cost £432,961 a year - at a time when the trust was required to save £40m over three years.

Clare Curran, North Tees' director of human resources, said: "If the sickness enhancements for this year continue at their current rate, then we will be paying the equivalent of 20 staff nurse posts just to afford it. It simply doesn't make sense."

 

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Trust said it supported "national NHS terms and conditions", but added: "Employees need to demonstrate they have attained, and maintained, standards before progressing to the next pay point."

Similarly, City Hospitals Sunderland trust said its tougher policy on appraisals was ensuring staff met "the required standards of job performance", adding: "Less than 15 nurses have been affected."