Healthcare assistants whose jobs were wrongly graded are at ‘breaking point’, as managers at Epsom Hospital, St George’s in Tooting and St Helier refuse to make good their errors
NHS staff will be on picket lines outside three major hospitals in south London and Surrey later this week in the latest phase of a long-running dispute over unpaid back-pay.
Strike: healthcare assistants will be on picket lines from Thursday morning
The NHS trusts that run St Helier in Carshalton, St George’s, Tooting, and Epsom Hospital, have accepted that they under-paid healthcare assistants for several years because of errors over their employment grading, and they have agreed to regrade them. But they are withholding compensation payments for the trusts’ errors.
Members of the Unison union will begin strike action this Thursday, January 22, through until 8am on Saturday, January 24.
Unison says the healthcare assistants have for years been performing duties – such as taking blood, carrying out electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas – that should have been paid at a higher hourly rate.
But managers at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust have refused to pay for the additional work staff have already done. Workers have been given just 17 months’ back pay, which the union says falls far short of what is owed.
Staff have also been placed at the bottom of the new pay band, despite some having more than 20 years’ service.
‘Breaking point’: Unison union official Sara Gorton
In a strike ballot, there was a 100% vote in favour among staff at St George’s. At Epsom and St Helier, the strike vote was a more modest 99% in favour.
Unison says the trusts’ position is out of step with agreements reached elsewhere.
Since 2021, more than 60 NHS trusts in England and Wales have settled similar disputes, agreeing deals for more than 40,000 healthcare workers.
Sara Gorton, Unison’s London regional secretary, said: “Healthcare assistants are taking strike action because they’ve been pushed to breaking point.
“These staff have delivered skilled, essential care for years while being paid less than they should’ve been. The trusts have acknowledged the problem, but they’re still refusing to put things right.
“Hospital managers need to understand how angry and disappointed staff feel. This dispute can be resolved easily – healthcare assistants just need an offer that genuinely reflects the work they have done for years.”
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