HUNDREDS of healthcare assistants (HCAs) at Warrington and Halton hospitals are to strike for 4 days this week as they continue their fight for fair pay, says UNISON.

The staff, employed by Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Trust, will walk out today and Friday (2 and 3 November 2023). They will then take another 2 days’ strike action on Monday and Tuesday (6 and 7 November 2023). This will be their 3rd round of action and the longest strike to date.

Healthcare assistants on salary band 2 should only be providing personal care such as bathing and feeding. 

However, most of the HCAs at Warrington and Halton are routinely undertaking clinical tasks, such as taking and monitoring blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas.

According to NHS guidance, staff performing these duties should be on salary band 3, which is nearly £2,000 a year more.   

7 health trusts in the North West have already moved healthcare assistants to the higher rate and backdated their pay to April 2018.

Last month, East Cheshire and Mid Cheshire trusts also agreed to move their HCAs up to salary band 3 and provide the appropriate back pay.

UNISON North West regional organiser Angela Blundell said:- “It is time for Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Trust to follow the lead of other trusts in the North West and pay their staff fairly. Healthcare assistants feel undervalued and less appreciated than their colleagues doing the same job in neighbouring trusts.”

Louise, a healthcare assistant at Warrington hospital, said:- “We’re all happy for the HCAs in other parts of the region, but it  does make us angry that trust does not seem to value us in the same way. Put simply, hundreds of low-paid workers in Warrington and Halton, mainly women, are being denied money they’re owed. The trust has saved so much money off our backs and we feel hurt they don’t seem to care about us.”