The following text was added to the site on 26.06.05

Hospital play specialists across the country are now experiencing the realities of the Agenda for Change process. As a result of our ongoing discussions with UNISON and feedback we have been receiving from play staff, we felt it was appropriate to offer you further advice. Over the last two years, NAHPS have worked closely with UNISON on your behalf to ensure that the National Profiles best reflect the roles and responsibilities of play staff- it is now down to you at the local level to make clear what it is you do and get full recognition for it!

By now you should have had a discussion with your line manager and reviewed your job description and person specification. As a result of this, you should have signed these documents off as a true reflection of your role. You need to contact your Trust agenda for change office to find out how the job matching process works in your trust as it is becoming clear that there are variations to this process across the country.

We would advise you to also print off the advice that follows on from the feedback form and hand this in to your Agenda for Change office explaining that it was compiled by your National Association and is supported by UNISON.

It is also advisable to enter into a discussion with your line manager as to where he/she and you see yourself banded under Agenda for Change. There are local differences in the job matching process. Your Agenda for Change office should be aware of the national profiles for play specialists and this should influence the outcome. However you need to familiarise yourself with these profiles and be clear where your role within your hospital/team fits (refer to the advice on the website).

What if you do not agree with the decision of the job matching panel?

We are all having to go through this process within our own trusts and we recognise that for all staff groups within the NHS this is potentially a worrying time. However it is important to remember that our profession will have its own place on the NHS pay scale for the first time bringing the benefits of improved recognition, and salary and better career prospects. In time, all posts will be evaluated and there will be consistency checks nationally. What you achieve on a local level will have an impact on the national picture. Please download and fill out the Agenda for Change feedback form.

The NAHPS Agenda for Change working party.

Agenda for Change is a national pay and terms & conditions package agreed between the Dept of Health, employing organisations and trade unions. There are three inter-connected strands within the package:

The content and processes relevant to the three strands have been agreed in partnership with unions at national level and will be implemented in partnership at local level. Your organisation should have a project board to plan and oversee the implementation of Agenda for Change, with project groups established to manage the different elements of the work.

The projects on the Terms and Conditions and Knowledge and Skills Framework will run alongside the Job Evaluation project, and you should find out the project plan and deadlines associated with these two areas of work

The NHS Job Evaluation (JE) scheme has been agreed at national level. This provides a means for comparing jobs against an agreed set of “factors”. All jobs covered by Agenda for Change will be compared against the factor plan using one of the following two processes, applied at local level:

A National Job Profile is a published and agreed evaluation of a job commonly occurring across the NHS. It gives people a chance to see where they may be placed on the pay bands and helps the project managers move people over to the new pay system more efficiently. Job profiles are labelled according to national protocol and there is no correlation between profile labels and current job titles. Profiles do not describe jobs - they describe the levels to which people commonly work within the role defined in the profile job statement. The matching rules mean that jobs can vary slightly from the levels stated, so most jobs should be able to “match” to a national profile. There will be jobs that do not fit the profiles - provided your department has up to date job descriptions and you have clustered your jobs accurately, the matching process will identify these jobs at an early stage.

Job matching panels are made up of 2 staff and 2 management side representatives, who have been fully trained in Job Evaluation. The panel will consider the information provided in the job description and person specification and can also request supplementary information. This may be gathered by asking the jobholder and their supervisor/ manager to attend the panel for a short interview; by telephone interview or by questionnaire.

Once the matching panel has decided the outcome, postholders will be informed, and given the rationale for the decision. Postholders who feel that the panel have not considered aspects of their job, or who feel they have been treated unfairly, can request a review of the matching decision.

The matching panels send details of matched posts to payroll and human resources teams for assimilation onto the new pay bands.

Your job description must be up to date- it is essential to job matching. If you have not already done so, you must make an appointment with your manager to discuss your job description. There are sample NAHPS job descriptions and person specifications on this site, which can be used as an outline for your post. Your workplace should have an established house style for job descriptions, which you can use as the basis for your revised document. You should include the key roles and functions of your post, describing the nature of the responsibility and how this is measured. Most job descriptions will take into account the following types of key roles:

Does the postholder supervise or manage any staff?

What elements of management is the postholder responsible for?

What kind of and how many staff are supervised/managed?

Does the postholder have input into ongoing staff development? What is the nature of this input?

What type of contact does the postholder have with patients?

What is the nature of any care provided?

Does the postholder have a responsibility for designing care programmes and if so, do these cut across other healthcare disciplines?

How is this care delivered (e.g. in outpatient clinics; in the home; in theatres; over the telephone etc)?

Does the postholder handle cash/cheques?

Does the postholder authorise payments to internal/external contacts?

Is the postholder responsible for looking after goods/equipment?

Does the postholder administer, monitor or set budgets?

What administrative functions are key duties?

Does the postholder have administrative responsibilities for any committees/groups?

Is the postholder responsible for keeping records updated (e.g. patient medical records; annual leave spreadsheets etc)?

Who does the postholder communicate with?

What information is communicated?

What method/s of communication are used?

Does the postholder undertake medium or long-term planning as a key duty?

Does the postholder represent the team/department on any long-term planning or development groups?

Does the postholder develop or implement changes to established practices/policies?

The NHS JE factor plan has 16 factors, each carrying a weighted score. The “Knowledge Training and Experience” factor (2) carries almost a quarter of the total points and therefore is a key factor in determining the banding outcome for a post.

It is important therefore that person specifications are updated and describe the knowledge, training and experience required for the post in detail. In clinical areas where there are few post-registration play specialist qualifications, the equivalent experience/ on the job learning will need to be emphasised. When preparing person specifications,

More will be said on this in the following paragraph.

It is important that you look at content of the profiles as opposed to job titles as this is what the job matching panel are trained to do. Whilst the matching panel will make the decisions about which profile staff match to, NAHPS thought it would be helpful to provide our interpretation of how the profiles link to current job roles and competencies.

The Band 4 play specialist is equal to an unqualified/ newly qualified inexperienced HPS/experienced NNEB/assistants and new basic grades who implement care but don’t design it. This band includes play assistants who have not completed their Diploma in Specialised Play for Sick Children and Young People, but who have an NNEB or NVQ Level 3 in childcare (minimum) and experience of working with children. Also on this band will be newly qualified hospital play specialists ie those who have recently completed the Diploma in Specialised Play for Sick Children and Young People and who have experience of working with children which may be limited when it comes to the hospital environment. NAHPS see this band fitting someone who has a job description similar to that of the NAHPS play assistant job description and person specification and suggest that you continue to call your unqualified HPS play assistants (in line with this).

Band 5, the play specialist higher level/team leader refers to hospital play specialists who implement and design programmes of care. This is a hospital play specialist who has a Diploma in Specialised Play for Sick Children and Young People (or the earlier equivalents -the course has recently changed its name) and significant experience of working with sick children and young people whether this be in hospital setting or the community. This also covers people who have trained as a HPS, but whose title is not play specialist i.e. Activities Coordinators. This matches the NAHPS job description for the Basic Grade HPS. This play specialist may but do not have to lead a team of hospital play specialists. According to the NHS Job Evaluation Handbook, ‘Level 5 normally requires degree level or equivalent level of knowledge. This level of knowledge could also be obtained through an in-depth diploma plus significant experience.’ NAHPS would expect that hospital play specialists who implement and design programmes of care, attend MDT meetings and lead teaching sessions would be placed on Band 5.

Band 6, the play specialist team manager isn’t necessarily a manager and can refer to a lead specialist in hospital play, as long as this individual has advanced knowledge and considerable experience. Here we are looking at a qualified HPS (ie with the Diploma in Specialised Play for Sick Children and Young People) who has significant experience of working with sick children and young people whether this be in hospital setting or the community and has undertaken further short courses (for example in counselling skills, therapeutic play or management/ leadership skills). This person may manage a team of play specialists or they may be a professional lead for the team or a clinical specialist in therapeutic play. In Factor 9 on this profile, the hospital play specialist may budget hold, but it is evident that the norm is for the service manager to budget hold and so play specialists should not be penalised if they are not budget holders. NAHPS feel that this band corresponds to the NAHPS Senior I HPS job description and person specification.

All of the above profiles cover play specialists, who have completed the HPS course and who are working in either a hospital, hospices or in the community or as part of a palliative care team.

To clarify this point, we felt it necessary to quote from the NHS Job Evaluation Handbook- Second Edition:

‘4. The Difference between Levels 4 and 5.

4.1 The differences between Levels 4 and 5 are:

5. The Difference between Levels 5 and 6.

5.1 There must be a clear step in knowledge requirements between Levels 5 and 6, so…a distinct addition of knowledge to what was acquired during basic training and required for professional practice.

5.2 This additional knowledge may be acquired by various routes:

In broad terms the additional knowledge for Level 6 should equate to post-registration or post-graduate diploma level, but there is no requirement to hold such a diploma.’

It is important that your job descriptions reflect these differences.

Now we have a set of National Profiles, there will be opportunities to move through ‘gateways’ on the banding which will provide hospital play specialists with a long awaited career structure. NAHPS are currently working on the KSF (Knowledge and Skills Framework) to be published in the near future. We recommend that you attend the KSF awareness sessions and that those of you who appraise staff attend the full KSF training on offer in your Trust.

Band 7 profiles for a service manager/clinical specialist will be produced.

UNISON sit on the staff council, the body which will be responsible for monitoring and negotiating future changes to the AfC agreement which means that NAHPS members get representation through UNISON at this high level.

The outcomes from Job Matching and evaluation will be put into the Computer system designed to support AfC implementation and these outcomes will be monitored by regular checks and reports to the Staff Council.

www.unison.org.uk

www.dh.gov.uk (for the national profiles)

UNISON members can also access help from their local branch or officers - via UNISONdirect on 0845 355 0845.

This advice is endorsed by UNISON and will also be circulated to UNISON job matching staff.

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