Michael Cooper, from East of England stewards, said a colleague had put a knee replacement operation on hold because he had already had taken time off on sick leave with a sore knee, and would have exceeded his allowance if he had gone ahead with the surgery.
Council member Jill Barker, speaking for North East stewards, said the CSP ‘must do better’ by campaigning more vigorously against a series of concerted bids by NHS managers to curtail staff’s ability to take paid sick leave.
Delegates heard that some NHS trusts are planning to stop paying staff wages during the first three days of an illness, and placing staff under increasing financial and moral pressures to turn up for work while ill.
Claire Kell, from North East stewards, said there would be many detrimental effects on staff and patients alike if such policies were implemented by trusts aiming to cut costs. For example, staff who worked through a bout of illness might end up with a recurrence of their illness, which might be more serious the second time around. Patients who had been unwittingly exposed to infection might end up claiming financial compensation from trusts as a result. In addition, she claimed, staff morale and retention levels would plummet
Kathryn Stott, from the national group of health and safety representatives, said that phyios could put colleagues at risk if they continued working while ill as their manual handling techniques could be compromised.
The motion’s call for the CSP to link up other unions and highlight the negative effects of curtailing sickness payments was passed by delegates.
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