Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Ref No: 23-307

Thank you for your request for Trust information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I can confirm that the Team is currently attending to your request. A member of the team will respond within the statutory timescale which is currently 20 working days.

If applicable, we will inform you if any of your requested information is exempt from release along with any fee required. We may require further detail from you to assist us in searching for the information you have requested. You may therefore be contacted in due course if it is necessary to clarify any part of your request.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request, please do not hesitate to contact us quoting the reference number above.

Kind Regards

Freedom of Information Assistant

Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Kendrick Wing, Warrington Hospital, WA5 1QG

Email: [email address]

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Dear Sir/Madam

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Ref No: 23-307

 

Response to request dated 07/06/2023 made under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000

 

Questions and Response:

 

I am writing to enquire as to how you pay your staff within the Blood
Sciences department for any work performed during routine and non-routine
working hours over a 24/7 period inclusive of weekends and public
holidays. This could be paid by recruitment and retention premia, overtime
or other financial or non-financial benefits in kind e.g. time off in
lieu.

 

If renumeration is financial in nature, what is the quantity and nature of
that renumeration. For example, but not exclusive to, the RRP rate/sum,
what percentage of the salary/hourly rate is payable if paying as overtime
etc.. If time off in lieu is used or any other non-financial incentive, is
it accrued as plain time, double time or other, and if other, please state
what it is.

 

 

For blood sciences:

 

Staff provide a 24/7, 365 day, on-site service. All samples are processed,
not just urgent requests. The arrangements for this are based on a locally
agreed fixed payment. The sessional payment is based on the day worked and
loss of any compensatory rest, i.e. weekend working. The payments are
based on a previously established mid-point Agenda for Change Band 6
hourly rate from and are time and a half and double time at weekends. The
terms of the local agreement means that any salary earned from out of
hours working is not subject to superannuation.

 

Mon – Thur

Early:   1 staff member starts at 8 am and finishes at 4:30pm (no payment)

Late:    1 staff member starts at 11:30 am and finishes at 8pm (no
payment)

Night:  1 staff member starts at 8 pm and finishes at 8am (day off before
and after shift)

 

Fri

Early:   1 staff member starts at 8 am and finishes at 4:30pm (no payment)

Late:    1 staff member starts at 11:30 am and finishes at 8pm (no
payment)

Night:  1 staff member starts at 8 pm and finishes at 8am (day off before
– resting in own time enhanced rate over Mon - Thur)

 

Sat

Morning service staffing is dependent on dept but the hours are: 8am –
12:30pm (lieu time given for 4hours work and enhancement based on Saturday
hours AfC rate)

Late shift:        1 staff starts at 12:30pm and finishes at 8pm (no lieu
time)

Night shift:      1 staff starts at 8pm and finishes at 8am (no lieu time)

 

Sun

Day Shift:         1 staff starts at 8am and finishes at 8pm (no lieu
time)

Night:              1 staff member starts at 8 pm and finishes at 8am (off
on the Monday)

 

Bank Holidays:

These are based on weekend working as above. e.g. the sunday before a bank
holiday is treated as a Saturday. The BH Monday night shift is treated as
a Sunday night shift. All staff that work hours that fall into the bank
holiday get a day lieu time.

 

For Microbiology:

 

This service is a split between Agenda for Change and local agreement.

 

Monday to Friday 8am to 8 pm works the same as other services above.

 

After 8pm to 8am it is a work from home call out arrangement, only
processing urgent specimens. The call out rate is a fixed payment per
night.

 

Weekend staff work 9- 5 pm and is incorporated into a 37.5 hour week.
There is an enhancement for Saturday and Sunday hours worked based on
Agenda for Change. Staff get Monday/Tuesday off following weekend working.

 

Out of hours arrangements are local agreement and there is a slight uplift
from weekday out of hours payment due to the weekend inconvenience.
Payments from the local agreement do not count to superannuation.

 

 

For Histology:

 

There are no out of hours / weekend working arrangements for this service.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the way your request for information has been
handled you can contact the Director of Communications and Engagement to
request a review by writing to:

Communications Team, Kendrick Wing, Warrington Hospital, Lovely Lane,
Warrington, WA5 1QG or email to [1][email address]

 

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of this internal review you can
submit a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can do
this by writing to:

FOI / EIR Complaints Resolution, Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Alternatively
you can complete an electronic complaints form and submit it to the
Information Commissioner’s Office via email. I have included a link below
for your convenience which explains how to complain to the Information
Commissioner’s Office.

[2]https://ico.org.uk/

 

Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005

 

The supply of information under the Freedom of Information Act is intended
to be for personal use only and does not automatically give the recipient
the right to commercially re-use it, for example, the right to publish it
or make it available to a wider audience [SI 2005 No: 1515 4(1)].

 

The Trust provides information under the Freedom of Information Act in
line with the template [3]Open Government Licence for public sector
information. Should you wish to re-use any information in line with this
Licence then you are not required to take any further action.

 

If you require any clarifications on the response to your Freedom of
Information this must be actioned within 60 days of receipt of you
receiving your response from the Trust. If we receive this after 60 days,
this will be processed as a new Freedom of Information request.

 

The Open Government Licence allows you to re-use information freely and
flexibly, with only a few conditions. If you wish to re-use information
outside of the Licence terms then please inform the Trust as unauthorised
re-use may be in breach of copyright law.

 

Kind Regards

 

Freedom of Information Assistant

 

Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Kendrick Wing, Warrington Hospital, WA5 1QG

 

Email: [4][email address]

 

 

 

[5]Shape Description automatically generated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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