Practical Commissioning's Jargon Buster explains the meaning of the term 'Staff passport'.
The staff passport is designed to assuage fears that community professionals will lose their NHS status if services are taken out of direct PCT control.
In December, health secretary Andy Burnham promised to explore with the unions ‘whether we could offer frontline staff an employment guarantee locally or regionally in return for flexibility, mobility and sustained pay restraint'.
The staff passport guide, available from the Social Partnership Forum, details minimum employment standards and rights when people are transferred to another provider or outside the NHS. There's also an online tool for HR advisors, union reps and managers. However, this approach was undermined by a leaked Foundation Trust Network briefing paper in January that warned of compulsory redundancies, reducing the number of pay bands and freezing incremental pay progression for two to three years. Staff who remain could see ‘daytime working hours' extended to 10pm.
The paper, written by Network director Sue Slipman, was addressed to Foundation Trusts, but expectations that many provider arms will be taken overt by acute trusts make it a disturbing read for community staff.
Follow this link for more details about the staff passport.
