Health
secretary John Reid is planning to hand over responsibility for the pay and
conditions of 1.3m NHS staff to a new employers’ body independent of the
Department of Health, according to the Guardian.
Reid
will pass control of doctors, nurses, therapists and non-medical staff salaries
to the NHS Confederation, the body representing local hospitals and primary
care trusts, the newspaper said.
Ministers
will continue to set financial limits for the NHS pay bill, but the
confederation will decide the detail of pay and working conditions. It will
also take over the department’s role of providing advice on employment and
recruitment.
Human
resources in the NHS will pass to an as-yet-unnamed employers’ organisation
under the umbrella of the confederation. It will be set up as a limited company
and will be awarded a five-year renewable contract, with the independence to
take decisions within policy guidelines set by ministers.
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About
50 department officials will transfer to the new body, taking with them an annual
administration budget of about £3.5m.
