Hundreds of health staff at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will take strike action from Monday (11 March) in a dispute over pay.
More than 400 workers at Bedford and Luton & Dunstable hospitals will walk out for 48 hours from 7:30am on Monday (11 March) as part of their campaign.
Staff will be on picket lines by the main entrance to Bedford Hospital on Kempston Road from 7am on Monday with a rally at 10am. On Tuesday, they will be on the picket line from 12pm with a rally at 2pm.
According to NHS guidance, healthcare assistants on salary band 2 of the Agenda for Change pay scale should only be providing personal care, such as bathing and feeding patients.
However, most of the staff have routinely undertaken clinical tasks that would normally be done by people on band 3, such as taking blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas, says UNISON.
In a ballot last month, staff overwhelmingly backed strike action with 99% voting in favour. The union says that staff have now been left with no option but to go on strike after the trust failed to make an offer that came close to its demands on regrading and back pay.
UNISON Eastern regional organiser Julie Trundell said: “Like anyone else, healthcare assistants deserve to be paid fairly for their work.
“They don’t want to be on strike. All they’re asking for is to be fairly rewarded for the work they do and to receive back pay for the extra work they’ve already done. The trust should follow the lead of others around the country that have avoided strike action by properly grading and paying their staff.”
Alesandro, healthcare assistant at Bedford Hospital, said:“I have been working here for years and over time we have been given more and more responsibilities but no extra pay. We don’t want to be on strike, but it is time the trust played fair and paid fair.”
The chief operation officer at the Bedfordshire Hospitals Trust, Cathy Jones, told the Bedford Independent that patients are likely to experience delays during the industrial action.
“Both our inpatients and outpatients may receive care from different clinical members of staff throughout the strike period, however all staff are trained and committed to providing the highest level of care,” she said.
“We value the vital contribution of our healthcare support workers and are in agreement and fully supportive of the re-banding of these roles. An offer to move workers on to a higher pay grade, where applicable, with back pay to July 2021 has been made.
“We continue to be in active discussions with Unison and our staff about this matter and remain committed to working collaboratively in bringing the matter to a conclusion as soon as possible.”
