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HUNDREDS of health staff at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTH) will begin a further 72 hours of strike action, on:- 11 September 2023, after failing to reach an agreement over their pay, says UNISON.

More than 500 clinical support workers (CSWs), who assist nursing staff in delivering care on the wards, will strike from:' 7am, their 2nd walkout in a fortnight.

UNISON says the staff have been routinely performing tasks above their salary grade and deserve wages that better reflect this. The union is calling for a settlement that backdates wages to April 2018.

Trust Managers made a revised offer on:- Thursday, 7 September 2023, which included a -off payment to the healthcare assistants. But UNISON says this fell short of the full back pay staff are demanding.

Following similar rebanding campaigns at other North West trusts, support workers elsewhere have won thousands of pounds more than the Wirral healthcare assistants have been offered, says UNISON.

The union has learned that doctors and consultants employed by the trust received back pay settlements in their wage packets last month, with no time limit applied. Some have received over 10 years’ back pay, after the trust miscalculated the pay of over 100 doctors over several years.

The workers in the dispute are employed across the trust’s sites at Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals. UNISON wants them to be paid up to £2,000 more each year for performing duties and tasks well above their pay grade.

NHS policy states that CSWs on a low pay band like those at WUTH should only be undertaking personal care like helping patients go to the toilet, bathing and feeding.  

But a survey by UNISON found most healthcare assistants on band 2 salaries are routinely doing clinical tasks like:- taking and monitoring blood, performing electrocardiogram (ECG) tests and inserting cannulas. UNISON says these duties should be paid at band 3 rates.

Seven health trusts across the North West have already moved many low paid CSWs onto the higher rate, with back pay to April 2018 following UNISON campaigns.

This action will coincide with the start of the latest walkout, some of the Wirral strikers will open the day’s business at the annual national Trades Union Congress in Liverpool. They will speak to union leaders from across the UK about their dispute.

On Tuesday, the strikers will be joined on the Arrowe Park picket line by UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea. They will be visited on Wednesday by general secretary of the TUC Paul Nowak, who was born at Clatterbridge Hospital.

The workers have already taken 48 hours of strike action, between:- Thursday, 31 August and Saturday, 2 September 2023.

North West UNISON regional organiser David McKnight said:- “It’s disappointing that the trust continues to refuse to match the offers of other North West trusts to provide back pay to April 2018. The latest offer would leave the workers short-changed to the tune of thousands of pounds compared to colleagues working elsewhere in the region. In truth, many staff have been performing these vital clinical duties for far longer than the 5 years they’re asking for. The trust appears to have 1 set of standards for settling back pay for Doctors, and another for their lowest-m paid workers. It’s outrageous to treat them as 2nd-class citizens. Staff are prepared to strike until the trust does the right thing and pays them what they’re owed.”

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:- “These workers are a vital part of the NHS but they’ve been underpaid for years for the roles and responsibilities they perform, mainly because of the shortage of Nurses. It’s time hospital managers paid up and gave healthcare assistants the wages they deserve. The longer this dispute drags on, the risk increases that the trust will lose more and more experienced staff."