NHS ...adding on extra duty to job description

[Crazymaisienumber9]

I need some advice on my job description.
I work in a team of specialist nurses with a consultant lead. Our teams senior manager, and our consultant want to start a pilot for a new way of working but it is not on our current job description. This is not something to help us in our day to day work but to add to our responsibilities. Only one team member is in agreement the remaining 7 are not. This one maverick wants to do it because ' it suits' him with no consideration for the remaining staff or the future implications of potentially significantly adding to our work.

If it is not in our JD can we decline to do it ?

It depends. Often a JD will expect “other reasonable duties commensurate with the rate of pay”. Or similar wording. So additional or varying duties for your pay grade are down to the employer within reason. If the duties are those which should attract a higher level of pay, you should all ask HR to do a job evaluation. If you are just being a bit difficult and you, and most importantly the patients, would all gain from the changes I think you should be a bit more willing to change.

It is possible for your employer to change all the jobs and ask you all, plus others if not ring fenced, to apply. If you don’t want the job, they could transfer you out. You could ask for this anyway if you don’t like the changes. The reality is though, most employees have to embrace different work over time because jobs evolve.

Is it weekend working? That's usually a popular change with NHS specialist nurses & there's always one or two who quite fancy it. Either way just take out a grievance to maintain the status quo and have full open and honest negotiations.

Thankyou for the replies. Carpetdiem, this isnt weekend working but has the potential to cause a significant increase in our workload over time. We are struggling as it is. The maverick and i recently got temporary band 7s . Before i applied for the band 7 i asked if it would in any way change my terms of service and i was told it wouldnt. Now both of us who got the job have been told to do this extra duty. No discussion no warning. If i had thought this would happen i wouldnt have applied for the job, despite having the same qualifications and responsibilities as my band 7 colleagues. There are also 2 band 6s in the team who dont have their specialist practice or prescribers or have the same responsibilities as me and this has been the case for the last 2 or 3 years. When we got the job our senior manager acknowledged it was an unfair situation.
Bubblesbuddy i asked my union about this additional duties aspect of the job description and they said it was for lighter duties and a bit of a mickey mouse clause.

Where I worked, for local government, being paid between £33-43,000 really would mean you did extra duties. It was part and parcel of a management level job. If you don’t want to be a professional manager then maybe just revert to what you were. Most people have to take on more and cannot stay the same these days. It’s life.

As a band 7 you ought to be a bit more proactive to changes and moving forwards.

Perhaps discuss with the leadership two that maybe the band 7's can do x and the 6's do y as to distinguish you ... you may find agenda for change rolled out if you dig your heals in as they probably don't get much choice and I doubt there's budget for more people

Bubblesbuddy and flumpy bear thanks for the input. I think what i and my colleagues are concerned about is the avalanche of work that this may open the door to , not just now but into the future. I didnt say i was wholly resistant to change just this change. Our team has undertaken massive changes in the last 2 years which we have all gotten behind. We all feel we can improve and develop in other ways particularly until our colleagues are up to par.

It also begs the question is why have we 2 new band 7s been identified as the only 2 to do this when it has an impact on the whole team eg Other team members will have to cover during leave periods and they are not happy about this.

I have been doing a band 7 job for years and not getting paid for it, and this appears to suggest that in order for me to be seen as a viable band 7 i need to undertake extra duties that my other band 7 colleagues dont have to. This is not fair or equitable.

There has been little thought or planning in this decision and our line manager or team lead havent been included either. It is a knee jerk response and not fully thought through. If we are management level band 7s ...surely we should be included in team discussions/planning about new projects as part of the process?