Healthcare assistants to strike for 72 hours

Staff at James Cook University Hospital will be among those taking part in the strike

NHS workers in Teesside will be taking part in further strike action next week in a row over pay.

More than 1,000 healthcare assistants at North Tees & Hartlepool and South Tees Hospitals NHS foundation trusts will walk out for 72 hours, starting at 08:00 BST on Monday.

It is a second period of strikes and Unison said the industrial action would not stop until "justice is done".

In a joint statement, the trusts said they recognised "the huge contribution" healthcare assistants make to patients.

The dispute is over securing a back pay settlement and moving staff to a wage band that reflects their tasks more accurately.

The union said most of the healthcare assistants had "routinely" undertaken clinical tasks outside their band 2 salary, including taking blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas.

Band 2 healthcare assistants should only be providing personal care to patients, such as bathing and feeding.

The two NHS trusts have offered to move the healthcare assistants to a higher salary band.

They have also offered back pay in line with the new banding as far back as July 2021, when the the national job profile for the clinical support worker role changed.

But Unison wants staff to receive back pay dated from July 2019.

'More determined'

Staff previously took part in industrial action in March when hundreds walked out.

A pay offer, which the union described as "inadequate", was rejected by workers.

Unison said it had offered to negotiate if the offer was improved, but both trusts had so far refused to do so.

Northern regional secretary Clare Williams said the trusts' refusal was making workers "more determined to carry on their fight for fair pay".

“They feel disrespected and unvalued. The community, patients and colleagues have been overwhelmingly supportive," she said.

“The strikes won’t stop until justice is done."

A spokesperson for the trusts said: "We recognise and appreciate the huge contribution that healthcare assistants make to our patients.

“Since the elements of these roles were clarified nationally, we have been working closely with trade union colleagues to move our healthcare assistants to these grades where applicable."

The trusts urged people to keep A&E free for "the most serious and life-threatening conditions" and use NHS 111 online for urgent but non-life-threatening medical need.