Ipswich and Colchester healthcare support staff vote to strike
They say they're not being paid enough
Last updated 3rd Jul 2024
More than 300 staff at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) have voted to strike.
UNISON says it comes after years of not being paid the full rate for the job - and revealed 96% of clinical support staff backed strike action in a formal ballot.
It's arguing workers employed at the trust’s main acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich and across multiple community sites need to be paid more for their work.
It's as they carry out essential clinical tasks alongside their nursing colleagues, whilst being employed on band 2 of the NHS Agenda for Change pay scale.
This means they should only undertake personal care tasks such as bathing or feeding patients, but UNISON claims workers are regularly undertaking clinical tasks like inserting cannulas, carrying out electrocardiogram (ECG) tests or taking bloods, which should be paid at band 3.
Following UNISON pressure, ESNEFT has moved the workers to the higher band – worth nearly £2,000 a year more for experienced staff, but the union says the trust has refused to compensate them properly for the years spent working above their pay grade.
In similar banding disputes elsewhere, trusts have agreed to recognise employees’ extra work as far back as August 2018, but ESNEFT is only offering workers back pay to April 2021.
Keen to avoid industrial action
UNISON says workers are keen to avoid industrial action and has written to senior managers at the trust urging them back to the negotiating table to discuss an improved offer.
In a separate dispute at ESNEFT, hundreds of cleaners, caterers, porters and security guards are currently voting on strikes over plans to move facilities services out of the NHS.
UNISON Eastern regional organiser Sam Older said: “These healthcare support workers are dedicated to providing exceptional care to their patients. But the trust has been exploiting their goodwill for years to get care on the cheap.
“Staff are fed up of being shortchanged. They’ve tried to get a fair deal through months of negotiations, yet senior managers are refusing to put their hands in their pockets.
“They’re left with no choice but to take industrial action. The trust can still stop this by coming back to the table and making an offer that gives staff the recognition and respect they deserve.”
What does ESNEFT say?
Nick Hulme is Chief Executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
He said: “We truly value our healthcare support workers and the work they do every day to help patients and staff in our hospitals.
“We’ve been working closely with our Trade Union colleagues for two years to implement changes following a national review of Band 2 and 3 health support worker job roles. This has included the amount of back pay that will be awarded to colleagues. Although the Trust’s provisional offer was accepted by other unions, this offer was rejected by Unison.
“We have since been actively working with Unison, with the support of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), to resolve the issue about back pay. We had hoped we had come to a mutually agreed position after those discussions, which we understood Unison would be recommending to its members to avoid industrial action.
“We have never left the negotiating table and hope to find a resolution with our Unison colleagues quickly.”