Hospital workers to stage 26-day strike

A picket line will be set up at Leicester Royal Infirmary

Health care assistants (HCAs) at Leicester’s hospitals will begin a 26-day strike over a pay dispute on Monday.

A picket line will be manned at Leicester Royal Infirmary with hundreds of employees at the city’s three hospitals expected to take part in the industrial action, which runs until the end of August.

Strikes will also be held by HCAs based at hospitals in Northampton and Kettering, which are under the same chief executive as the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust.

Trade union Unison said HCAs, who assist nurses in wards, theatres and maternity units, are some of the lowest paid workers in the NHS but their roles have increasingly seen them taking on clinical responsibilities.

These include taking blood pressure, monitoring blood sugars, dressing wounds, removing catheters and carrying out simple tests.

Following a change to the pay bands for HCAs agreed by the NHS in 2021 to reflect additions to their roles and responsibilities, striking workers are asking for back pay of six years.

Hundreds of workers at Leicester's three hospitals are set to stage industrial action

UHL chief nurse Julie Hogg said plans were in place to “manage disruption” during the strike.

She said: "We value the contribution of HCAs at UHL and recognise the difference they make to patient care.

“This is why we initiated a proactive review of job descriptions in 2023 to ensure colleagues are being paid correctly for the work they do. As of March this year, everyone identified as working at a Band 3 has been moved to that band.

“We have robust plans in place to manage disruption to patient services during the action and continue to engage openly with unions to reach a fair and equitable resolution as soon as possible."

'Not a pay rise'

One worker told the BBC some 18 hospital trusts nationwide have agreed to back pay for five years. Leicester’s trust is offering two years and seven months of back pay, they said.

Sherry Syer, an HCA based at UHL for nearly eight years, said: “We are striking for money we are owed, not for a pay rise.

“I'm angry that they think we do not deserve our back pay, especially in the current cost of living crisis. A lot of us have to take on one, sometimes two shifts extra a week, just to survive.”

HCA Donna Walker said: “I feel very disheartened and not valued. I worked all through Covid and worked overtime.

“To discover the NHS has underpaid me for 11 years is disgusting. We are only asking for six years back pay, which we totally deserve.”

And Leicester HCA Krish Naik said: “We feel undervalued. During the pandemic, we continued working. We are not asking for a pay rise - we are requesting the compensation that reflects our hard work and responsibilities.”

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