04.01.17
HCSA union wins collective bargaining rights for NHS doctors
The Hospital Consultants & Specialists Association (HCSA) has become the first NHS trade union in decades to win the right to negotiate directly with employers on behalf of hospital doctors.
The Trade Unions Congress (TUC)-affiliated union received confirmation of the move from NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer following years of talks.
The HCSA will now join the British Medical Association (BMA) in all national negotiations on pay and terms and conditions concerning doctors in English hospitals, including junior doctors, specialists and consultants.
HCSA president Professor Ross Welch described the decision as a “game changer” for NHS hospital doctors, saying: “This might seem a small functional change but it is the first time since the NHS was created that a union has been granted full negotiating recognition for medical contracts other than the BMA.
“This is a game-changing moment, an alternative professional trade union at the national negotiating table able to give a voice to the thousands of hospital doctors who for whatever reason feel disenfranchised.”
The union’s chief executive Eddie Saville described the decision as a “positive and refreshing” change which will help protect doctors in English hospitals from day-to-day workplace issues such as staff shortages and stress, to national issues such as underfunding.
The HCSA is still seeking similar national collective rights to bargain on behalf of hospital doctors in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“We have much experience of negotiation at a senior level in the NHS and I believe we will be able to make an enormous contribution to negotiations as we go forward,” Saville said.
The move was also praised by the TUC, with its general secretary Frances O’Grady welcoming the union’s new ability to negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of its members.
“It's good news for NHS patients, whose interests will be well served by the campaigning work of HCSA for a properly resourced NHS in which staff are able to provide the best possible standards of clinical care,” O’Grady said.
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