MECA working parties make progress: the work of three of the working parties, set up after the public sector multi-employer collective agreement, is coming to an end.

The work of the senior nurses'/midwives'job scoping working party remains intense. It has met for up to two days at a time over recent weeks. Despite every best endeavour, it was not be possible for all the work to be completed by the July 1 deadline. One of the complicating factors has been that no South Island district health board (DHB) had previously undergone any formal job evaluation exercise. NZNO members and the South Island DHB representatives needed education on how the Compers[TM] job evaluation system worked and the importance of up-to-date job descriptions for all the positions being scoped.

However, the working party is committed to completing its work by the end of this month. Its final three-day session late this month will use the recommendations from the scoping exercise to translate positions onto the agreed salary scale. Ratification meetings will be held in August for NZNO members whose positions have been part of this scoping exercise. The pay increases and/ or lump sum payments that result from the translation to the salary scale will be back dated to July 1. For most of those affected, this will equate to the second seven percent increase, as per the terms of settlement of the DHB multi-employer collective agreement (MECA). Some positions may return to the registered nurse (RN) scale and will receive the appropriate RN increases.

Rationalising titles

Another aspect of the working party's job was to try and rationalise nursing/midwifery titles nationally. This has been difficult, so the working party decided to group the positions. Three groups have emerged, into which most of the jobs will fit: 1) leadership/management; 2) professional/clinical; and 3) education/research. Community positions will also be considered in relation to these groupings.

Briefing sessions for those affected by this working party were to be held early this month to ensure the process was well understood before the final recommendations are presented at next month's ratification meetings.

This working party for health care assistants (HCAs) and hospital aides (HAs) is also progressing well. Again, due to the complexity of what exists and endeavouring to establish criteria acceptable to all involved, this working party did not meet its July 1 deadline either. But the final two meetings of the working party were held on June 30 and July 1.

Some excellent work has been done putting together a "frequently asked questions" sheet, defining and explaining the application and appeal process. It also contains the criteria for the merit steps and clearly explains what is required to access them. Applications for advancement to the merit steps (and thus the merit step allowances) received and approved within six weeks of the process being formally announced, will be backdated to July 1.

Ratification meetings for those affected, ie all NZNO members employed as HCAs or HAs (or other DHB-specific titles for this role), will be held during August. It is important for all those affected to participate in these meetings.

The nursing and midwifery professional development recognition programme (PDRP) working party has really been two working parties. Firstly, there were different PDRPs or no PDRPs at all for nurses and/or midwives across the 21 DHBs. The first task was to align the existing programmes to the national framework and, where there were no PDRPs, to get one up and running as quickly as possible.

It was clear from the start that there would need to be a separate PDRP/quality leadership programme (QLP) for midwives. In a short space of time, using some good work already started at various DHBs, a nationally consistent PDRP has been developed. This will make the PDRP/QLP payments negotiated in the national MECA accessible to our midwifery members.

One of the other challenges was to develop nationally consistent criteria for enrolled nurses' (EN) levels of practice. Development of descriptors that distinguish the competencies required for each level has been complex but they are now clear and cohesive.

Ongoing monitoring

Good processes will ensure the other goals of this working party will be met and maintained. These include an appeal process, transportability, national consistency and no capping or barriers to numbers in each level/domain. Joint NZNO/employer committees have been set up and will continue to monitor the principles agreed to during the negotiations. There will also be ongoing monitoring of other issues, such as education, ensuring the PDRPs are managed consistently, assisting in the development and monitoring of reviews, any implementation difficulties, and ensuring appropriate training, information and support for all employees and managers involved in the PDRP.

The committee of inquiry into safe staffing and healthy workplaces has a ;onger timeframe than the other working parties. Two new people on the committee are a representative of the 21 DHB chief executives, Jim Green, and Ministry of Health representative David Geddis. The committee has also decided an independent chair is crucial and has asked Retirement Commissioner Dianna Crossan to act in this capacity.

The committee has met three times and established a draft project plan and a plan for communication, secretariat support and budgetary control. It has also decided on the research and information required and how it will receive submissions. The committee was to circulate information to members on how they can provide input. A regular newsletter updating the work of the committee will be distributed to DHBs.

NZNO industrial adviser Glenda Alexander