Bedfordshire NHS hospital staff in 48-hour strike over pay

Staff across two Bedfordshire hospitals say they are being asked to perform medical tasks above their pay grade, such as inserting cannulas

Hundreds of NHS emergency hospital staff are expected to take part in strike action in a dispute over pay and rebanding of roles.

Some 400 workers at the Bedford and Luton & Dunstable hospitals will walk out for 48 hours from 07:30 GMT.

The union Unison said healthcare assistants were being asked to carry out clinical tasks without extra pay.

The Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it was committed to working with the union.

On its website the trust, which runs both hospitals, said the action over its rebanding of roles would "have an impact", including possible delays in outpatient services, but no patient appointments were being cancelled.

Unison said healthcare assistants in salary band 2 of the pay scale should only be providing personal care and not undertaking clinical tasks.

It argued that jobs such as taking blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas were for band 3 staff.

According to the union, 99% of staff were in favour of the walkout in a strike ballot earlier this month

The trust stated previously it was "in agreement and fully supportive of the rebanding of these roles and have made an offer to move workers on to a higher pay grade, where applicable, with back pay to July 2021".

The union said an offer from the trust fell short of members' expectations for back pay going back to April 2018.

It added the trust had also failed to clarify which staff would be regraded.

Unison's eastern regional organiser Julie Trundell previously said support staff "deserve to be paid fairly for their work".

The trust said: "We are in agreement and fully supportive of the rebanding of these roles, continue to be in active discussions with Unison and our staff about this matter, and remain committed to bringing this matter to a conclusion as soon as possible."