William David
30 Jan 2023
Read all about it! New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chaired a meeting of UK Health and Social care providers on Saturday the 7th of January 2023, in response to the growing crisis caused by skill shortages, huge backlogs in medical care & operations, the flu outbreak and bed shortages as well as the prevailing unrest with striking nurses and paramedics. The government say that about 13,000 beds in English NHS hospitals are taken up by patients who are medically fit to be discharged to other establishments. Mr Sunak therefore announced after Saturday’s meeting a further £200 million for the NHS to buy thousands of beds in hotels, hospices, care homes and private hospitals. Ministers hope this will free up about 2000 hospital beds in weeks reducing Accident and Emergency (A&E) “bottlenecks” that doctors say are causing up to 500 deaths a week. How we can help! Caremax 24/7 stands ready to assist existing and new clients with the huge workload that Mr Sunak’s announcement is certain to mean. We have teams of care assistants, seniors, registered nurses and other support staff available 24/7 -night and day. Block bookings are a speciality! Get in touch via this website for a quote or to make direct bookings.
Other Care/Employment Changes on the Way! At the time of writing Mr Sunak says future changes will be introduced very soon to both employment and immigration laws in the light of prevailing industrial action by NHS staff as well as recent tragedies in the English Channel involving who have come to be known as “boat people.” He has backed three separate Private Members’ Bill concerning flexible working as a day one right, as well as carers leave and additional protection for pregnant employees. These are profiled below. Flexible Working - A Private Members’ Bill has been sponsored by Labour MP Rt Hon Yasmin Qureshi. The Bill would make the right to request flexible working - on matters such as including working hours, times and locations - a ‘day one’. The Bill received the backing of the government at its second reading in the House of Commons. Once passed, the legislation will remove the current 26-week qualifying period before a flexible working request can be made. Carers Leave -Following a government consultation, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) had confirmed the intention of the government to introduce ‘Carer’s Leave’ as a day one right for employees. The government has since backed a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Liberal Democrat MP Rt Hon Wendy Chamberlain. Having received this support , the Bill will enable regulations to be made making provision for unpaid leave for employees with caring responsibilities. Protection for Pregnant Employees - A Private Members’ Bill, sponsored by Labour MP Rt Dan Jarvis, would provide employees with additional protection from redundancy during or after pregnancy or after periods of maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill was backed by the government at its second reading in the House of Commons. Other News in Brief:-
A Private Members’ Bill, sponsored by Conservative MP Rt Hon Nickie Aiken, would afford employees time off from work to attend fertility appointments. The government have not yet announced their intentions.
The UK has ratified the International Labour Organisation’s Violence and Harassment Convention on 7 March 2022. It will come into force on this date in 2023.This is a first-of-its-kind global common framework for action to eradicate workplace violence and harassment.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) also has plans to introduce a new duty on employers, requiring them to take steps to prevent their employees from experiencing sexual harassment and introduce explicit protections for employees from harassment by third parties, such as customers and clients.
The government has introduced ‘proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss.’ The consultation builds a case for employers to do more to support employees with health conditions. In return the government is committed to providing more help for employers. The plan includes changing the legal framework so that employees would be able to request workplace modifications for health reasons without being disabled within the definition of
Get in touch for more details of any of these matters on which we also provide training awareness courses.
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