date: 17 January 2001 embargo: immediate

Attention: Hospital Press, Birmingham Media

Birmingham Hospital Gets TUC Partnership Ball Rolling

A major breakthrough in employer and worker relations has arrived in Birmingham at University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust with the introduction of a new partnership style of working.

At the Trust, employees, managers and trade unions will benefit from more positive ways of working as the hospital becomes one of the first five organisations in the UK to receive help from the TUC’s Partnership Institute - a new consultancy which aims to move away from the old style ‘them and us’ antagonisms.

The TUC Partnership Institute will be launched in central London tonight (Wednesday) by the Prime Minister, TUC General Secretary John Monks and TUC President Bill Morris. The Institute aims to help employers and unions develop a partnership approach to problem solving which is more inclusive and less divisive than the confrontational industrial relations of the past.

Senior managers and reps from the ten TUC-affiliated unions with members at the hospital (UNISON, AEEU, T&G, MSF, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the Community and District Nursing Association, the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, and the Society of Radiographers) have been receiving lessons in partnership from the TUC. Members of the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal Colleges of Midwives, and a number of other unions not-affiliated to the TUC are also involved.

University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust is the largest NHS Trust in the West Midlands and treats nearly 500,000 patients a year. It is the leading teaching hospital in the region and houses many of the region’s specialist services. The Trust is now waiting to hear if its plans for a new hospital will be given the go ahead.

The new ways of working will cover the all 5,000 people employed by the Trust. The TUC is helping develop partnership for workers and managers at the hospital, and has begun by running a number of training courses. As well as working with University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust, the TUC Partnership Institute has four other pilot projects - the Tranfood Meat Company in Birkenhead, Electronic Data Systems, Barclays Bank in London and Northampton, and British Bakeries Ltd.

Over the coming months, the TUC’s new consultancy will offer advice, help and expertise to union reps and managers in companies yet to embrace partnership on the skills needed to implement organisational change, improve business performance and encourage employee involvement.

Headed by Director, Sarah Perman, the TUC’s new partnership operation, and its 26 consultants, who are all experts with human resources, trade union or management backgrounds, will be helping organisations learn new ways of working, as the managers and unions at the hospital have been over the past few months.

TUC General Secretary John Monks said: 'Partnership is alive and kicking in both the public and private sectors, with employees and bosses in companies and organisations large and small, all embracing the new, modern way of working. It isn’t a quick fix solution, but the results of partnership are well worth waiting for.'

Lorraine Rigby , Staff Side Secretary and a UNISON member said: 'The trade unions at the Trust are happy to be taking part in the TUC’s partnership pilot. We feel that it is the only way to improve industrial relations at the hospital. Although it is only early days, we hope that a new more inclusive way of working will bring about a number of positive changes from which everyone can benefit.'

Mark Britnell, Acting Chief Executive at the Trust said: ' I am delighted that University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust has been selected to work with the TUC Partnership Institute. There are many challenges facing the NHS and to meet them successfully managers and staff need to work in partnership. As a Trust we have an exciting agenda with the prospect of a new hospital and new ways of working across all areas. Improving services for the benefit of patients can only be assured if our staff feel valued and have greater control over their working lives. The partnership project will help us deliver a truly participative model of engagement for the future.

'Building Birmingham’s first new general hospital for more than 60 years will inevitably demand investment in employee relations. The biggest asset of the NHS is its people doctors, nurses, clinicians, ancillary staff, administrators and managers. They all need to work together to provide the best care for patients.'

Representatives from the management team and the trade union reps from the hospital will be attending the TUC launch tonight.

Notes to Editors: All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk Mark Britnell from the Trust and Lorraine Rigby from UNISON are available for interview.

Contacts: Media enquiries : Liz Chinchen on 020 7467 1248 or 076 99 744115 (pager)/Clare Austin, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust on 0121 627 8917

Press release (900 words) issued 17 Jan 2001