In negotiation meetings your Blue care delegates have done an excellent job at explaining why your log of claims is so important. They want you to see what they have be telling management about why you deserve better.
Delegates are seeking pay parity with Uniting Care Health (UCH). Pay comparison chart detailed below. Queensland Health pay rates provided for comparison purposes.
| Blue Care pay rate (% age below UCH rates) |
UCH Pay levels Super ? $15900NFP (% increase between each level) |
UCH pay rates as at Sept 2019 (current rate based on data from employment ads) |
Qld Health Levels (Super 12.5%) |
QH pay rates as at Oct 2021 |
QH pay rates as at April 2022 |
|
| PO2.1 | $33.47 (17%) |
2.1 | $38.88 ($39.46) |
HP3.1 | $38.2513 | $39.2079 |
| PO2.2 (+10%) |
$37.11 (>13.6%) |
2.2 (+8.5%) |
$42.19 | HP3.2 | $40.5133 | $41.5645 |
| PO2.3 (+5.7%) |
$39.24 (>14.3%) |
2.3 (+6.3%) |
$44.86 | HP3.3 | $43.1974 | $44.2776 |
| PO2.4 (+3.8%) |
$40.75 (19%) |
2.4 (+6.5%) |
$47.78 ($48.50) | HP3.4 | $44.8737 | $45.9961 |
| PO3.1 (+5.1%) |
$42.85 (18.5%) |
3.1 (+4.7%) |
$50.03 ($50.78) | HP3.5 | $46.8816 | $48.0539 |
| PO3.2 (+6.2%) |
$45.54 (>12.5%) |
3.2 (+2.4%) |
$51.27 | HP3.6 | $48.8882 | $50.1105 |
| PO3.3 (+2.9%) |
$46.87 (17%) |
3.3 (+5.3%) |
$54.03 ($54.84) | HP3.7 | $51.3171 | $52.6000 |
| PO4.1 (+6.6%) |
$49.97 (>14%) |
4.1 (+6%) |
$57.31 | HP4.1 | $56.6079 | $58.0237 |
| PO4.2 (+5.2%) |
$52.58 (>14%) |
4.2 (+4.9%) |
$60.16 | HP4.2 | $57.7882 | $59.2329 |
| PO4.3 (+2.5%) |
$53.90 (>15.2%) |
4.3 (+3.2%) |
$62.11 | HP4.3 | $59.2974 | $60.7803 |
| HP4.4 | $60.9145 | $62.4368 | ||||
| PO5 (level 1-2) | $56.96 - $59.84 | PO5 | $65.22 - $69.19 | Advanced Practitioner HP5.1 - 5.2 |
$64.0382 - $66.8197 | $65.6395 - $68.4908 |
Uniting Care Australia is the national body for the Uniting Church’s community services network and an agency of the Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia. It includes Uniting Care Queensland under which Blue Care falls. (NB Wesley Mission Qld is part of Uniting Care Australia NOT Uniting Care Queensland).
Uniting Care Queensland – Starting in early 1900s, UnitingCare has helped people across Queensland and Northern Territory live life in all its fullness. UnitingCare is a courageous and creative health and community services provider and one of the largest charities in Australia.
UnitingCare never stand still, adapting to stay ahead of an ever-changing society and confidently speaking out for fairness and justice. In partnership with clients, communities, governments, and other providers, we deliver services characterised by innovation and wisdom.
The UnitingCare ‘family’:
(Taken from Uniting Care Queensland website)
Bluecare sits under the same umbrella organisation as UCH.
Community AH practice requires an advanced skill set at least comparable to, if not more challenging than UCH AH roles. Community AH practice operates with a greater degree of independence/reduced supervision, thus requiring increased experience/ clinical reasoning skills.
Community AH should not be paid less within the same organisation.
During EBA discussions, the delegates shared a HCPP case study that illustrated the challenges faced by HCPPs managing large caseload portfolios across a wide geographic area.
Issues to be addressed:
Actions expected of Blue care:
Clause 4.3.1: BC EBA currently states "The parties to this agreement acknowledge that employees and management have a responsibility to maintain a balanced workload and recognise the adverse effects that excessive workloads have.
Issue: Staff workload is impacted by many factors including:
To run effectively, workload management requires a dynamic and timely response to manage referrals and caseload sharing. This requires examination of workflows, triage of referrals for clinical priority, management of contracts and monitoring/ allocation of referrals to appropriately trained staff and staff with capacity to provide the service. In summary, this oversight and leadership requires a work area team representative, “clinical lead”
Our current EBA identifies the presence of a work area team representative, however in many clinical services this task is undertaken informally and without remuneration. We want this role formalised.
Action:
AH professionals carry diverse, complex caseloads- all staff need to actively keep up to date across diverse areas of professional practice.
Historically, there have been issues with fairness and equity when accessing CPD opportunities.
If staff knew in advance what training was available, this would facilitate forward planning.
Actions:
Claim 9 includes clinical supervision and mentoring for ALL AH staff, not just regional and remote staff.
The primary focus is safety and quality of healthcare and a supportive learning environment designed to enhance performance.
It is vital to commit adequate resources to effective supervision since the quality of supervision can have a fundamental impact on the safety and quality of a client’s management and health outcomes as well as the professional conduct and development of colleagues.
A suggested model was presented outlining the recommended frequency of clinical supervision relative to length of experience.
New graduates (first 12 months): 1-2 hrs/week
Caseloads require such a diverse skill set for routine referrals that increased support is required in the first 12 months for risk management/care governance.
Recent graduates (up to 2 years uninterrupted clinical experience and experienced professionals returning to work or starting clinical practice in a new area): 1-2 hours/fortnight
Hours may be increased in circumstances requiring acquisition of a new skill area (e.g. commencing a new specialisation) or moving into a new work setting.
All clinicians > 2 years uninterrupted clinical practice and advanced skills in areas relevant to workplace requirements: 1-2 hrs/month-6weeks
A model of clinical supervision is also expected to demonstrate the organisation’s duty of care to employees and have a positive impact on staff morale, support the recruitment and retention of high-calibre clinical practitioners, and ultimately enhance the delivery of quality health care services to key stakeholders.
AH staff are a diverse group with diverse professional registration requirements.Equity of access to training has varied. It is important that staff can plan CPD training in advance.
Blue care does not provide training that can be counted towards professional registration CPD quotas
Historical best practice meetings (Biannual, 1 day discipline specific catch ups) allowed for professional networking and collaboration- sharing of knowledge, unified approach to professional issues. Currently, AH staff are working in silos- resources and knowledge are not easily shared.
Seek to reintroduce bi-annual best practice events with AHPs encouraged to attend at least one/year. (this could account for 2 of 5 days PD leave).
Remaining CPD activities at AHP discretion with manager approval.
Delegates are seeking a similar classification and progression structure as Uniting Care Health. Blue care’s existing progression structure is flawed.
Action:
We want a simpler, more streamlined progression from PO2 to PO3 with local level sign off (must include representation from AH).
Total Experience to Count (EBA clause 6.2 )
Change wording of the EBA so that there is less ambiguity.
Case study presented: We had a physio join our service with 2 years 11 months experience. They commenced on a PO2.2 and needed to wait a full 12 months before moving up a pay point.
EBA should read “total experience to count at commencement and for progression between pay points. This experience is to be regardless of employer and based on hours of service in a professional role. 1976 hrs/year FTE; 1200hrs/yr PTE including paid leave”.
It was changed to: Address AH issues in rural and remote areas.
Actions:
Provision of organisational supervision. If line supervisor is not AH background, need to also have a link to an AH line manager to ensure flow of AH specific information.
In addition,
Seek equal employment opportunities within Bluecare for managerial and clinical support roles. Remove the need for APHRA registration in recruitment adverts and include a more general statement like “holds appropriate professional registration in a health discipline”
This request pertains specifically to AH disciplines- Social Workers, Dieticians and Exercise Physiologists who are not APHRA registered health professionals but do have their own specific professional registration bodies.
AHPs do their own scheduling.
Needs to be flexibility of start and finish times. Current KRONOS system is increasing staff stress and may be contributing to some unsafe behaviours eg rushing to work.
Phone cookies already provide transparency and can be used for performance monitoring.
Action:
Seek pay by exception approach. This is already standard practice for HCPPs/ LPs.
If extra time is worked on a particular day (to attend to work requirements) there should be capacity to adjust work arrangements so that the correct base roster is worked within the pay period (manager would be consulted).
This generates no cost to the organisation but would greatly reduce staff stress, improve flexibility and reduce admin load.
Bluecare have stripped out PO4 clinical specialist role. There has been a notable loss of knowledge/skills.
Action:
Appoint Clinical leads and Clinical specialists (2 different job descriptions) at PO4 level, based on merit, not position availability.
Clinical leads - operational staff support as well as staff development and training, safety and risk management, care governance
Clinical specialists: recognising staff with specialised professional knowledge that is operationally relevant at a local and state-wide level.
There should be no limitation on the number of PO4s/team- Based on merit.
Action: The current EBA clause 3.2.a be enacted/extended to include not only an ADO (19 x 8hr days per month) which is currently in the agreement, but to also include the option of a 9 day fortnight RDO.
This helps staff to maintain work life balance.
The issue:
Actions:
Action: We are seeking parity.
AH workers/CSS employees value to the organisation needs to be recognised and we are of the view this is one way the employer can demonstrate that recognition.