\n Slogans on the placards include: “Our ventilators support us better\u201d (Image: The Oldham Times)\n<\/p>\n
\n Announcing the strike, UNISON said critical care units in the region are heavily reliant on overtime due to staff shortages and paying workers fairly for extra work would help relieve pressure on the hospitals.\n<\/p>\n
\n UNISON claims that critical care staff are currently paid less for the overtime shifts than they are for regular shifts, despite contracts that say they should get time and half for overtime.\n<\/p>\n
\n They say this is due to the trust making staff take out secondary contracts with an NHS agency.\n<\/p>\n
\n The union argues staff should receive proper overtime payments and pension contributions when doing additional shifts.\n<\/p>\n
\n The trust has said that while it is ‘disappointed’ industrial action could not be avoided “patient safety and high-quality care remain our absolute priority”.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hema Balda, an ICU sister who has worked for the NHS for 22 years, said: \u201cWe deliver expert skills, so we deserve expert pay.”\n<\/p>\n
\n She added: \u201cNo one else can do our job. We deliver a high intensive care, so we deserve the overtime pay accordingly.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Hema Balda, 49, said: “We deliver expert skills, so we deserve expert pay.” (Image: The Oldham Times)\n<\/p>\n
\n The 49-year-old said that the extra workload has been taking its toll on the personal lives of staff members with morale at an all-time low.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: \u201cMost of us are feeling down and unhappy because the reduced pay is causing a huge impact on us.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSome shifts are not covered because nobody wants to work for that pay. But if we get overtime pay, the shift will be covered and we’ll never let our patients down.\n<\/p>\n
\n Patients are also at the heart of the strikes, according to those on the picket line, and making sure they are cared for properly.\n<\/p>\n
\n Day shift UNISON members have walked out for 12 hours from 7.30am, including nurses, support workers, and housekeepers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Another nurse, who wished not to be named, said: \u201cWe look after the most critically unwell people of Oldham. They’re your family, they’re your loved ones and they deserve holistic, amazing care from compassionate, not burnt-out nurses.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n “I can manage multi-organ failure! The NHS can\u2019t manage my pay.\u201d (Image: The Oldham Times)\n<\/p>\n
\n Ian Angus, a band seven nurse manager, described the strike as a \u201cmomentous occasion\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n He added: \u201cI’ve worked for the trust for a lot of years. I’ve been very loyal to the trust and it doesn’t feel like nurses get the same loyalty back.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIn my 25 years of working in the NHS, this is the first time I’ve ever been on a picket line \u2013 and that’s despite numerous occasions voting for strike. This is unheard of.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n He also pointed out that these strikes come as the cost of living continues to rise.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 54-year-old said: \u201cIf they didn’t need to work these extra hours in order to pay for the food, and the energy prices, and the rents, and the mortgages \u2013 all of which are spiralling \u2013they wouldn’t be coming into work to get paid less than they would for a normal shift.”\n<\/p>\n
\n He added: \u201cIt just shows how desperate the nurses are, how financially desperate they are.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n One nurse said that morale is low among staff members (Image: The Oldham Times)\n<\/p>\n
\n These sentiments were echoed by another UNISON member, who had come to support Oldham staff from another hospital. She has worked as a nurse since qualifying in 1999.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: \u201cDo you know how many normal band five nurses are being forced into almost poverty?\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBut at the wages that they’re on, they’re not entitled to any support, most of them, so you’re struggling. By the end of the month, you’re lucky if you’ve got \u00a350 left.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Strikes were also taking place at the other NCA hospitals at Fairfield in Bury and Salford Royal.\n<\/p>\n
\n UNISON flags outside Royal Oldham Hospital (Image: The Oldham Times)\n<\/p>\n
\n Katie Robinson, deputy chief nursing officer at the NCA, said: \u201cWe respect our colleagues\u2019 right to take lawful industrial action.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThroughout this process, we have worked with UNISON through ACAS conciliation, and we are grateful for their constructive involvement.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhile both parties are disappointed that industrial action could not be avoided, our focus remains on being fair, equitable and consistent for all colleagues.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cPatient safety and high-quality care remain our absolute priority, and we are working hard to minimise any disruption for our patients and people who use our services.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnyone who has an appointment should attend as scheduled unless contacted and told otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite the yellow weather warning for strong winds, the staff members represented by the union UNISON were out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-472033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}