HUNDREDS of clinical support workers at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTH) are to strike for an additional 2 weeks as they continue their fight for fair pay, says UNISON today (Monday, 23 October 2023).

The latest action will begin a week next Monday, 6 November 2023, and continue until 20 November 2023. It will be their 5th round of action and the longest strike to date.

The announcement comes as the workers, who assist nursing staff in patient care, start another 5 days of action today (Monday, 23 October 2023). The current strike ends this coming Saturday, 28 October 2023. 

Staff involved in the dispute are employed across the trust’s sites at Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals. UNISON says they should be paid at least £2,000 more each year for performing duties and tasks well above their pay grade. 

NHS policy states that clinical support workers on a low-pay band like those at WUTH should only be providing personal care. This includes helping patients go to the toilet, bathing, and feeding. 

But a UNISON survey found most of those on band 2 at the hospitals are routinely undertaking clinical tasks such as taking and monitoring blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas.

The union says these duties should be paid to at least a band 3 salary, according to the NHS’s own job profiles, which is nearly £2,000 a year more.   

7 health trusts across the North West moved their low-paid clinical support workers to the higher rate prior to this year’s UNISON campaigns, each backdating pay to April 2018. The East Cheshire and Mid Cheshire trusts have now joined them.

The Wirral trust has refused to draw up a similar agreement, only offering to backdate the wage increase for up to two years. That means employees would receive thousands of pounds less than workers doing similar jobs in other North West trusts, says UNISON. 

UNISON North West regional organiser David McKnight said:- “Wirral's clinical support workers are increasingly frustrated at their trust’s unwillingness to do the right thing. They've seen colleagues at East Cheshire and Mid Cheshire trusts get an offer to April 2018 without the need for any strike action. Wirral’s refusal to settle is only making workers more determined to carry on their fight for fair pay. Clinical support workers have proudly served the trust and the Wirral community for years. Many have worked above their pay band for far beyond the date they’re asking for. They feel disrespected and unvalued. The community, patients and other staff at the trust have been overwhelmingly supportive. The strike won’t stop until justice is won. The longer this goes on, the more determined we get. They need to do what's right in order to not permanently damage their relationship with their own workforce."


Tracey, a clinical support worker at Arrowe Park hospital, said:- “We’re all feeling so let down by our trust. We have all given so much over the years, and it seems like they don’t appreciate any of it. Hundreds of low-paid workers, 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 – especially now we’ve seen that East and Mid Cheshire staff have been treated so much better. When the doctors and consultants in the Wirral had an issue, they had no limit on their back pay. It feels like Wirral support workers are being treated far worse than anybody else and it’s hard to understand why they’re doing this. The strike won’t stop until justice is won. The longer this goes on, the more determined we get. They need to do what's right in order to not permanently damage their relationship with their workforce.”