Strikes resume in hospital health workers pay row

A picket line has been set up at Northampton General Hospital

Strike action has resumed in a dispute over the pay grading of NHS healthcare support workers.

The union Unison says "hundreds of staff" are walking out at hospitals in Northampton, Kettering and Leicester.

The workers say the current pay grades cover personal care such as bathing patients, but they are regularly carrying out clinical tasks above their pay grades, such as inserting cannulas.

The hospitals say they are engaging openly with all unions.

Healthcare support workers, who help nursing staff in wards, theatres and maternity units in hospitals run by NHS trusts for Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, are paid on grade 2 of the salary scale.

Unison says that grade is meant for staff who provide personal care for patients, such as bathing and feeding.

The union claims the support workers are carrying out essential clinical tasks such as taking and monitoring blood, performing electrocardiogram tests, and inserting cannulas.

This means they should be paid on grade 3 of the scale.

Staff with placards are picketing outside Kettering General Hospital

Unison members carried out three days of strike action last month in support of their claim.

The hospitals affected are Northampton General and Kettering General in Northamptonshire, and three in Leicester - the Royal Infirmary, Leicester General and Glenfield.

The union says the hospitals have now offered to move the workers to grade 3, but they have not agreed to backdate the pay award to cover the under-payment from 2018.

Unison says that other NHS trusts have already moved healthcare assistants to grade 3 and backdated the extra pay.

The union's East Midlands regional secretary Chris Jenkinson said: "The skills and dedication of these staff have been taken for granted for too long.

"The trusts simply shouldn’t be using them as cheap labour and instead recognise and reward them for the work they do."

The union said about 30 staff were on each picket line on Monday morning.

Julie Hogg, the chief nurse for University Hospitals Northamptonshire (UHN) NHS Trust, said: "We really value our healthcare support workers across UHN and recognise the difference they make to patient care every day.

"We continue to engage openly with all unions to reach a fair and equitable resolution as soon as possible.

“Our teams have robust plans in place to maintain all of our regular patient services throughout the action."

Patients with appointments have been advised to attend as they normally would.