Healthcare workers set to strike over pay

Staff said tasks, such as taking blood, should have been paid at a higher hourly rate

Hundreds of healthcare workers in Blackpool who are members of a trade union are set to walk out in a row over pay.

Unison said a 48-hour strike of its members was set to begin at Blackpool Victoria, Clifton and Fleetwood hospitals on Monday from 07:00 BST.

Staff say Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospitals, is refusing to compensate them fairly for work carried out, such as taking blood, performing electrocardiogram (ECG) tests and inserting cannulas, when they were on the wrong pay grade.

The trust said the workers' decision to go on strike was "very disappointing".

'Claw back money'

However, the union accuses senior managers are trying to "claw back" some of the money owed to staff, even though NHS policy says nobody should be worse off as a result of a promotion.

It said the trust's refusal to settle up is out of step with what is happening elsewhere in the region and around the country.

Fifteen health trusts in north-west England had moved their healthcare assistants to the higher rate and given them back pay, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Since 2021, more than 60 NHS trusts in England and Wales have agreed deals on regrading and back pay for more than 40,000 healthcare workers.

Unison North West regional manager, Dan Smith, said: "It's outrageous the trust is refusing to pay staff properly for all the extra work they've done.

"Healthcare assistants have been working above their pay grade for years, in some cases decades, and it's only right they're fairly compensated.

"Hospital managers need to recognise the strength of feeling on this issue. They should follow the example of other trusts in the region and stop trying to claw back money their employees are entitled to."

Maggie Oldham, chief executive at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, said: "It's very disappointing that strike action has been confirmed by Unison, especially as we have agreed to increase and backdate pay for eligible Health Care Assistants (HCAs), in line with NHS terms and conditions.

"What Unison has asked for is outside of standard NHS terms and would leave our trust with a multi-million pound bill it cannot pay."