The HSE has agreed to Fórsa’s demand for a union-management assessment group to ensure that effective clinical governance in health and social care professions is maintained in new community health structures currently being tested in pilot ‘network learning sites.’

There will also be joint feedback groups in each of the nine sites.

The development came after the union’s head of health Éamonn Donnelly insisted the process was necessary to ensure that senior health and social care professional (HSCP) managers maintained a “direct input into line management” in the professions.

This is important because the new community healthcare organisation structures being piloted will see some HSCPs reporting directly to generic network managers rather than heads of discipline.

Fórsa has restored full cooperation with the nine learning sites following agreement that the assessment group will be constituted in time to start work in two months’ time.

In a related development, a review of HSCP career pathways will get underway in earnest under an agreement linked to the union’s cooperation with the learning sites.

The process will consider career progression against the background of changed working environments since 2003. It will take account of career structures, advanced practise, clinical specialisms and advancement from basic to senior grades.

It is being conducted by an independent chair, overseen by a joint union-management group consisting of four people from each side. Two of the seats on each side will be rotational to allow for inputs from different professions.