Final call for views on the draft Nursing and Midwifery Profiles.
The NHS Job Evaluation Group (JEG), a sub-group of the NHS Staff Council, has been gathering job evidence about nursing and midwifery in the form of JDs, interviews with nursing staff, receiving submissions from employers and trade unions and engaging with other relevant stakeholders.
The purpose of the review is to update job profiles to reflect current nursing practice, training and role development. Profiles are not intended to create career progression frameworks nor dictate the way that NHS staff are deployed.
UNISON submitted survey evidence to the review which clearly showed that band 5 nursing staff have taken on more complex duties/tasks and responsibilities, which could have an impact on their banding. Our members also told us that their Job descriptions were woefully out of date.
The NHS Staff Council published an interim report summarising the evidence JEG had received during the evidence gathering phase.
Since then, UNISON has made an important contribution to the development of the draft profiles.
On 29 April 2024, JEG opened a consultation on new draft job profiles for nursing and midwifery roles at band 4, 5 and band 6. You can access the draft profiles and get involved with the consultation.
The consultation will close on 30 June 2024 and JEG will then review the evidence received and make necessary changes to the profiles. Those profiles will then be agreed by the NHS Staff Council and published for use locally. Local matching panels will then be expected to match to the new profiles. UNISON envisages that there will be a need to review and update job descriptions and this may lead to re-banding in cases where roles have changed significantly over time.
UNISON will be submitting a response to the profile consultation. We are seeking views from local JE practitioners and JE leads to feed into our response. If you have any observations on the profiles which you would like to feed into UNISON’s response, please email H.Group@unison.co.uk.
Please note that the profiles are currently in draft form and they may alter substantially between now and being published.
The Health Service Group Executive will be overseeing UNISON’s response to the new profiles, including development of organising and bargaining resources to support branches and members who feel their job has changed significantly and want to request their banding is reviewed.