Hospital support staff at Ipswich and Colchester to strike

The strike vote was held in a dispute over pay following a review of job roles and salaries within the NHS. 

A nationwide NHS review in July 2021, determined that workers on Band 2 salaries should focus on personal care responsibilities while those carrying out clinical duties should be paid Band 3 salaries.

However, until March this year clinical workers at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which runs Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, were being paid Band 2 salaries while doing Band 3 work. 

UNISON said that members were paid less for their work at the hospitals. (Image: Newsquest)

After pressure from the union, the trust upgraded the band of the workers but has not compensated them. 

As a result, 96% of clinical support staff backed strike action in a formal ballot because, UNISON says, they have not been paid the full rate for the duties they have been carrying out.

The strike vote is the latest blow to the trust which is facing similar action by thousands of cleaners, porters and caterers over plans to privatise their jobs. 

Nick Hulme, chief executive of ESNEFT, said the trust had been working closely with UNISON to reach an agreement with health support staff in a bid to avoid industrial action.

ESNEFT CEO Nick Hulme said he hopes to reach an agreement with UNISON soon. (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown, Newsquest)

He added: “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."

Mr Hulme said that the trust had not left the negotiating table and hoped talks would continue to end the dispute.

However, Sam Older, UNISON Eastern region organiser, said talks had broken down and called for the trust to return to the negotiating table claiming it had walked away.

“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," he added. 

“Staff are fed up of being short changed. They’ve tried to get a fair deal through months of negotiations, yet senior managers are refusing to put their hands in their pockets."

Healthcare staff are also balloting over the privatisation of services. (Image: UNISON Eastern region)

Cleaners, porters and caterers at Colchester Hospital, Aldeburgh and Felixstowe community hospitals and the rehabilitation clinic Bluebird Lodge in Ipswich are also in dispute with the trust over plans to privatise their jobs.

UNISON was to ballot its members on strike action on July 11.

The latest strike action over pay by junior doctors, from June 27 to July 2, has also recently come to an end.