OVER 300 healthcare assistants at Warrington and Halton NHS Foundation Trust (WHH) will take strike action this week in a dispute over pay, says UNISON today (Monday, 25 September 2023).
The strike will take place from 7am on Thursday (28 September 2023) until 8am on Saturday (30 September 2023).
This is a result of an overwhelming majority (98%) of the workers, who are demanding back pay they are owed as a result of an ongoing pay regrade, voting to take action.
UNISON says healthcare assistants (HCAs), theatre support workers (TSWs) and maternity support workers (MSWs) at the trust should be paid up to £2,000 more each year because they perform duties and tasks well above their pay band.
The employees assist nursing staff in delivering care on the wards and in clinics across the trust’s sites at Warrington and Halton hospitals in North Cheshire.
The NHS says that HCAs, TSWs and MSWs on a low pay band should only be undertaking personal care such as helping patients to the toilet, bathing, and feeding.
But a survey by the union found most support staff on this band 2 salary are routinely undertaking clinical tasks. These include taking and monitoring blood, electrocardiogram (ECG) tests, and inserting cannulas.
UNISON says that according to NHS job role profiles, all these duties should be paid at least a band 3 Agenda for Change salary.
Already 7 health trusts across the North West have moved many low-paid HCAs to the higher rate and given back pay to April 2018. This has been in response to campaigns by UNISON.
The union has also announced that the East Cheshire NHS Trust has recently offered to match these agreements.
The trust in Warrington has begun to implement the re-banding but has so far refused to follow other trusts in agreeing back pay, despite months of pressure from UNISON and a collective grievance from more than 300 employees.
That means support staff in Warrington are being denied thousands of pounds for work they’ve done, according to UNISON.
Clinical support workers elsewhere in the North West, at Wirral hospitals, have also been on strike over the same issue twice in the past three weeks. Other local trusts that have settled this issue have done so through negotiation, says UNISON.
UNISON North West regional organiser Angela Blundell said:- “Taking strike action is no easy decision. Healthcare assistants are dedicated to providing outstanding care to people across Warrington and Halton. But the trust has refused to give these workers what they’re owed and seems to think care should be given on the cheap. Staff have done all they can to resolve the issue in a reasonable way. They’d much rather the trust made an offer in line with solutions reached at hospitals elsewhere in the North West. Most of these employees have worked well above their pay band for many years. It’s time the trust did the right thing. Paying them fairly would avoid any strike action and prevent disillusioned staff leaving the NHS for better paid jobs elsewhere.”
