MIDWIVES in Bolton are locked in battle with hospital bosses over pay.

Ninety midwives working from the Princess Anne Maternity Unit have been fighting a regrading battle with Bolton Hospitals Trust to increase their salaries and bring them into line with midwives in other parts of the country.

Susan Coates, Regional Officer with the Royal College of Midwives, which has been fighting on the midwives' behalf, said: "There are 90 midwives in Bolton working on an E grade when they should be on F grades, all involved in team midwifery which is by far the best system of maternity care for women.

"These midwives are working alongside colleagues, doing exactly the same job with the same responsibilities and these others are being paid at the higher grade.

"The RCM has been fighting this battle for three years and only last September our members pulled back from the brink of balloting for industrial action in order to continue negotiating.

Forthcoming

"Negotiations have been ongoing from September and are still ongoing.

"Bolton has the creme de la creme of a service and simply isn't paying for it." At current pay levels an E grade midwife is paid from £14,705 to £17,030 and an F grade from £16,310 to £19,985.

Bolton Hospitals Trust, which pays the midwives' salaries and determines grading issues, claims the funds to meet the regrade have not been forthcoming from the health authority.

But Mike Ruane, Chief Executive of Wigan and Bolton Health Authority told the BEN: "We are obviously fully aware of the situation regarding these midwives but there are a couple of very important points which need to be made here.

"It is the Trust's responsibility to grade its staff, the health authority has no involvement in this at all.

"It is extremely unusual for a trust to come to a health authority about changing staff grades, this is not a role we have to play.

"As we have already said on numerous occasions, we are underfunded to the tune of several millions and every service is underfunded because we have less to spend.

"Having said that the one exception to this is maternity, where the health authority spends more than any other health authority covering a comparable area."

Eddie McGurk, Director of Human Resources for Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We will continue to hold further meetings with the midwives to look at other proposals, such as a more gradual phasing-in of regrading."

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