Four years back pay boost for 1,500 hospital staff

Healthcare assistants will be given back pay for carrying out tasks above their pay grade, Unison said.

More than 1,500 hospital workers in East Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire will get four years back pay under a new deal.

The trade union Unison and the NHS Humber Health Partnership have confirmed the deal for healthcare assistants which will also see them moved to a higher pay grade.

The NHS Humber Health Partnership "valued members" of staff were being recognised for carrying out "additional duties".

Unison's Hull and East Riding health branch secretary, Rachel Waters, said the deal would "ensure hundreds of frontline NHS workers are finally paid properly for the work they do".

Unison said healthcare assistants had been carrying out tasks such as taking blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas, which should have been paid at a higher rate.

The NHS Humber Health Partnership has agreed to move the workers up a pay grade, and date back pay to April 2021 to reward them for their work.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the deal also includes employees who previously worked at the hospitals in Cottingham, Grimsby, Goole, Hull and Scunthorpe.

'Fairly compensated'

The deal followed the regrading of maternity support workers employed by Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust earlier this year, Unison said.

Last summer, maternity support workers at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, Grimsby, carried out strike action over back pay.

The union said the outcome is another success of its Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign, which has won more than £200m for more than 40,000 healthcare workers since 2021.

Unison's Grimsby, Goole and Scunthorpe health branch secretary Andrea Smith said: "Staff have been carrying out duties above their pay grade to make sure patients get the best possible care for years.

"It's only right that they are regraded and fairly compensated for the work they've done previously."

Ms Waters said: "It's great news that so many staff will receive a pay rise in time for Christmas."

The NHS Humber Health Partnership spokesperson said: "It is part of a national change, but we are pleased to have reached a collective agreement with our staff side colleagues."

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