Pennine Acute goes ahead with HR privatisation plans

At its meeting today, (26 June) held at North Manchester General Hospital, the Trust Board of Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs services at Birch Hill and the Rochdale Infirmary, decided to press ahead with the privatisation of its in-house Human Resources Department despite spirited opposition from both workforce and trade unions plus some tough questions from some non-executive directors including Mike Holly.

Earlier this year, the Trust had decided not to privatise the Payroll and Patients Records departments.

Prior to the start of the meeting, a Unison Officer made an informed and impassioned address in which he urged the Trust to accept the in-house bid and said that the bid to run the service by law firm Capsticks was ‘not credible’ and said he believed that the figures supporting their bid had been ‘manipulated to make them look credible’.

Mr Lucas also confirmed that the complaint made by Unison to the Information Commission Office for a breach of the Data Protection Act, as previously reported on Rochdale Online, was still being investigated even though Capsticks’ self-reporting of the incident had resulted in the Commissioner finding insufficient grounds to proceed with formal action.

It was confirmed that affected staff will be covered by the Transfer of Undertakings, (Protection of Employment) regulations and that the contract would be ‘closely monitored to ensure value for money. Mike Holly in particular sought firm assurances on these issues.

Speaking to Rochdale Online after the meeting, Unite Branch Secretary Liz McInnes said, “We are very disappointed that the Trust has chosen to go down this route. It has not been proven that this move will provide a better service or save money. We feel that there is likely to be a reduction in service to the Trust and its staff and it sets a bad precedent. It gives no evidence of the organisation valuing its employees.”

Roger Pickering, Executive Director of Human Resources at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We are keen to explore all options to improve the efficiency and quality of corporate back-office services in line with delivering the Trust’s transformation agenda. Following discussions and a thorough debate at two Trust Board public meetings, the Board agreed to the proposal to modernise the Trust’s human resources advisory service through outsourcing to Capsticks.

“The decision was not purely based on financial efficiencies, but importantly also on the quality and deliverability of the service offered. The proposals have been developed and shared during this process in an open and transparent manner, consulting with staff and staff side representatives. Importantly staff directly affected by the decision have been informed and will be supported.

"It should be noted that last month the Trust Board agreed to the in-house proposal to modernise the payroll service and rejected an outsourcing option."

Other items discussed at the meeting included: 

• The story of an elderly female patient with a fractured femur following at fall who received very poor care on a ward at North Manchester General Hospital. 
• Foundation status: No date for submission of Pennine’s application to become a Foundation Trust had yet been given. 
• New rules for the publication of nurse-staffing data had been drawn up in response to national concerns and these would be presented to the board at six monthly intervals. They would give a ward by ward breakdown of planned staffing levels as compared to those being delivered. 
• In a strategy update, new Trust values had been drawn up with an emphasis on being “Quality Driven, Responsible and Compassionate”.