Musgrove Park Hospital pay cuts denied (From Somerset County Gazette)

Musgrove Park Hospital pay cuts denied

7:00am Sunday 5th August 2012 in Taunton

THE boss at Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital has told staff she has no intention of cutting pay and changing terms and conditions “across the board”.

Chief executive Jo Cubbon wrote to reassure employees following media speculation that wages could be cut by 5%.

In the letter, Mrs Cubbon said Musgrove was one of 20 members of the South West Pay Consortium seeking to “deliver cost-effective, high-quality services for patients while protecting jobs and appropriately reward the performance and contribution of our staff."

She added: “We’re working with others to see how we can modernise the pay framework so that it’s more flexible and able to meet the needs of our hospital in the future.

“We’ve absolutely no intention of simply cutting pay and other terms and conditions across the board as we know this would only serve to demoralise our staff, when what we want to have is a skilled and engaged workforce able to tackle the challenges we face.”

She said staff and unions would be consulted when the consortium came up with pay options later this year.

But Mrs Cubbon added: “It won’t stop us making our own decisions so that we continue to act in the best interests of our staff and hospital.”

A Musgrove spokesman said: “No decisions on pay, terms or conditions have been taken, regardless of what may have been implied in media coverage elsewhere.

“The consortium is currently developing detailed proposals which will form part of a full business case to be presented to each trust’s board later this year.”

Dorothy Fogg, chairman of the Joint Unions Health Officers Forum, has slammed the situation.

She said: “This isn’t an issue about public sector pay – the knock-on effects will have a devastating impact on the regional economy, especially the private sector, at a time when the economy needs strengthening, not weakening.

“Reducing pay and other terms will result in staff moving to those areas that pay more, which will lead to already deprived areas being unable to recruit the quality of staff needed.”