CIRC 080: NHS STAFF SIDE SEAT

The Health Unions met on Thursday 17th October 2024 as part of the NHS Staff side and on the agenda was the constitution of the composition of the Staff side. I am delighted to announce after many years of campaigning the POA have been voted on to the full Staff side with voting rights. I am grateful to all the Health Unions that supported us having that right.

The history of this was that the POA did not have a seat on the NHS Staff side at all. Previous General Secretaries had those internal dialogues with other trade unions but to no avail. In 2010 I raised the issue internally within the TUC but was met with the same resistance but in 2012 a breakthrough came where we were given observer status within the NHS Staff side in England/Wales.

I made it clear that whilst this was a step in the right direction for our members at Rampton, Mersey Care and Broadmoor that the POA would not rest until we had a full seat with voting rights.

In 2023 a vote on the constitution once again saw the POA narrowly kept out, but it was clear support from other unions was on the rise and we kept the campaign going with dialogue behind the scenes which has now paid off. This is a game changer for our members in Rampton, Mersey Care and Broadmoor, along with our POA member nurses in prisons with the POA now at the table and not just having observer status.

NHS Scotland is totally separate, and I expect our members at Carstairs will see a similar change in Scotland through dialogue rather than a vote which I hope to update you on shortly once discussions get underway with the unions in NHS Scotland. 

Yours sincerely

STEVE GILLAN
General Secretary

Representing over 30,000 Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers, the POA is the largest UK Union in this sector, able to trace its roots back more than 100 years.