Healthcare staff vote to strike over pay row

Unison said 96% of its members voted to strike

Healthcare staff have voted to strike as part of a long-running dispute over pay.

Unison said 96% of its members who work as healthcare assistants for Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust have voted to take industrial action.

The union said workers were successful in a request to be regraded to a higher pay band last year, but staff believed the changes should be backdated further than the two years given by the trust.

The trust, which runs hospitals including Alnwick Infirmary, Hexham General Hospital and North Tyneside General Hospital, said it would continue to work with the union and it would ensure "the safe care of our patients".

Dates for strike action are yet to be confirmed.

Unison said the changes came after the trust recognised healthcare staff jobs had become "increasingly complex" over the years, yet they had been paid "the lowest hourly rate in the NHS".

Clare Williams, Unison's northern regional secretary, said: "Most healthcare assistants have worked well above their hourly rate for a considerable time.

"These health staff say the imposed amount is not a good reflection of all the extra work they've done."

A trust spokesperson said the role was "re-banded" with effect from 1 July 2024, and pay was backdated to 1 April 2022.

They added: "We acted quickly to make the banding changes and pay backpay to those who were entitled to it before Christmas."

It is the fourth trust in the North East to be in dispute with staff over wage banding, with workers in Teesside, South Tyneside and Sunderland negotiating a higher backpay deal.