{"id":748867,"date":"2026-08-25T04:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T04:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/748867\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T04:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T04:04:12","slug":"critical-incident-declared-as-350-hospital-workers-in-greater-manchester-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/748867\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical incident declared as 350 hospital workers in Greater Manchester strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major NHS trust has declared a critical incident as more than 350 operating theatre staff begin a series of 24-hour strikes across four hospitals. <\/p>\n

Workers including nurses, clinical support workers, and housekeepers at Salford<\/a> Royal, Royal Oldham<\/a>, Rochdale<\/a> Infirmary, and Fairfield Hospital in Bury<\/a> are walking out on 24, 26, and 28 August. <\/p>\n

It follows similar strike action taken by staff across the same four hospital sites in June. <\/p>\n

The dispute focuses on the trust using an external agency, NHS Professionals, to manage overtime shifts.<\/p>\n

Trade union UNISON<\/a> claims this system forces some staff to earn less than a standard shift rate, leaving workers out of pocket by more than \u00a380 per shift when covering staff shortages.<\/p>\n

Staff at four hospitals, including Salford Royal, are on strike for three days. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n

UNISON Regional Organiser Kevin Dolan claims trust bosses show a “lack of leadership” after an offer was reportedly withdrawn before talks began.<\/p>\n

“A deal was put on the table but taken away before we had chance to talk it over,” Mr Dolan said. “We are ready to continue negotiations, but it\u2019s obvious NCA has no intention of resolving this. <\/p>\n

“Staff are simply asking for what their contract says they\u2019re entitled to. Nothing more.”<\/p>\n

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust<\/a> (NCA), the trust that runs the hospitals, apologised to affected patients, stating that overtime rates must be aligned with regional and national standards.<\/p>\n

Gertie Nic Philib, Chief People and Strategy Officer at the NCA, said theatre staff had previously received higher rates of extra pay compared to colleagues at the same level across the trust.<\/p>\n

“We want everyone to be treated fairly and paid consistently for any extra hours they work,” she said.<\/p>\n

She confirmed senior doctors have reviewed emergency, urgent, and cancer care cases to keep time-critical operations moving, but said UNISON declined requests to agree to staffing exemptions.<\/p>\n

Unison members has accused trust bosses of showing a “lack of leadership”. Credit: PA Images<\/p>\n

“We have declared a critical incident so we can get extra support and make sure patients who need urgent surgery can get to theatre,” she added. <\/p>\n

“This means some less urgent operations and procedures will need to be postponed or rearranged.”<\/p>\n

Health officials confirmed contingency plans are in place to prioritise emergency care.<\/p>\n

A&E departments and 999 services will operate as normal throughout the industrial action and patients should attend planned appointments as normal unless contacted directly by the NHS to reschedule. <\/p>\n

Bosses added that mental health services, GP surgeries, and dental practices remain open, though minor disruptions may occur at primary care sites hosting resident doctors.<\/p>\n

The public is urged to use NHS 111 online for non-emergency medical advice.<\/p>\n

The trust is reminding visitors to treat all healthcare workers with respect, emphasising a zero-tolerance policy for abuse or aggression.<\/p>\n

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major NHS trust has declared a critical incident as more than 350 operating theatre staff begin a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-748867","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\/748867","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=748867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}