The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has published a set of employment standards for staff and employers within independent health and social care settings – focusing on pay, wellbeing, workplace culture and more.
The standards set out what the college expects employers in the independent sector, including in GP practices and within social care, to deliver for its nursing workforce.
As part of the standards, the RCN stressed employers should have ‘transparent pay, terms and conditions, including pay scales, job evaluation schemes and policies that are applied equitably to all staff’
In addition, the blueprint covers what the RCN believes must happen within workplaces ‘to ensure the delivery of safe and effective patient care’.
The seven standards are outlined by the RCN as:
Standard 1: Fair pay
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Ensure employers are responsible for paying their staff ‘fairly’ for the work they do.
Standard 2: Employment contracts
Require all staff to have a written contract of employment, with employers having to issue a contract to a new member of staff ahead of their employment.
Standard 3: Supportive policies
Calls on employers to support colleagues balancing hope and work life stresses, with having ‘transparent and agreed’ support policies in place.
Standard 4: Health, safety and wellbeing
All nursing staff are entitled to work in environments where the risks to their physical and psychological health are ‘properly controlled’
Employers must meet their legal duties and, if they haven’t already, introduce measures to reduce any risks to staff health and safety, including but not limited to violence, lone working, work-related stress, moving and handling.
Standard 5: Working relationships and culture
Employers must provide a supportive culture and ensure ‘quality interactions’ between all staff, regardless of their level or role.
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Standard 6: Learning and development – funding and support
Employers should support paid time off as well as ‘an ongoing cycle’ of CPD for staff, with provision also being made for supervision, preceptorship, annual appraisals, amongst other areas of development.
Standard 7: Internationally educated nurses and nursing staff
Employers must support internationally educated nursing staff with ‘settling into’ the nursing workforce and with transitioning into living in the UK.
Internationally educated staff must be treated fairly and have their specific circumstances addressed.
The standards are intended for use by union members, RCN representatives and staff, employers and politicians and decision makers.
Earlier this month, the government announced its Employment Rights Bill, which would bring significant changes to flexible working, statutory sick pay, striking rules and more.
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The Bill would see an effective end to zero hours contracts and would also introduce new protections for staff reporting sexual harassment.
Commenting on the standards, Stephanie Thornton, RCN employment relations officer, said: ‘The employment standards basically just reflect what our what our members deserve, they are that starting point, they are that baseline.
‘And we’ve put that in writing now, and we are just going to work to try and embed those and make sure that they are the solid foundation of what people should be expecting that benefits everybody at work.’
