Hundreds of NHS workers at four hospitals in Greater Manchester will walk out next week as operating theatre staff strike over a dispute about overtime payments.
More than 350 employees at Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust (NCA), including nurses, clinical support workers and housekeepers, will walk out on Monday (August 24), Wednesday (August 26) and Friday (August 28).
Those striking will include staff from Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and Fairfield Hospital in Bury.
Dispute over overtime payments
Trade union Unison claims an offer to resolve the dispute was initially put forward by bosses at the Trust but withdrawn before discussions could take place.
"It’s obvious NCA has no intention of resolving this," said Unison North West regional organiser Kevin Dolan. “This isn’t complicated. Staff are simply asking for what their contract says they’re entitled to. Nothing more.”
The row centres on the trust’s use of an outside agency called NHS Professionals (NHSP) to manage overtime. When covering staff shortages, the union says staff are entitled to time-and-a-half pay. However, in some cases staff earn less than they would on a normal shift, with some missing out on more than £80 per shift, it adds.
Patient safety concerns
The industrial action comes as the NCA has been criticised over patient safety concerns, with public records by the Trust showing dozens of patients who died or were harmed due to treatment delays and serious errors made by staff working under extreme pressure.
The Trust’s own reports found lengthy delays were linked with "28 deaths" and 56 issues of "severe harm", while problems diagnosing illness led to ten deaths last year. There were also 12,000 cases of delayed treatment last year within the Trust, with bosses claiming "persistently high" levels of sick leave are a major issue.
Unison's Mr Dolan said: “NHS staff across Northern Care Alliance work tirelessly to provide safe, high-quality care, often under immense pressure. Concerns about staffing levels, workload and patient safety are very real and must be taken seriously.
“Through our current industrial action, staff have identified that their colleagues are burnt out due to understaffing in theatres. Our members are working significant extra hours to cover sickness, fatigue, and strategic understaffing.
“Understaffing pushes staff towards working extra hours at lower rates of pay, which they do because they are passionate about patient safety. The trust can alleviate this issue but choose not to.
“Staff and their unions need to be listened to when they raise issues, and there must be a sustained commitment to recruiting, retaining and supporting the workforce. Safe staffing is not only essential for the wellbeing of NHS workers, but for delivering the care patients deserve."
Trust response
In response to a story by the Independent about patient safety concerns within the Trust, the Northern Care Alliance said it had changed the way it runs the organisation, putting more clinicians into leadership positions and giving them a direct role in making decisions and driving improvements.
They said: “Like many NHS organisations, we’re facing challenges. We’re clear about what those challenges are and recognise the concerns colleagues have raised. We are working to address those concerns and will continue to listen when colleagues tell us we haven’t got something right, so that we can keep learning and improving.
“We have clear processes to investigate incidents and learning from these is an area we need to prioritise. By doing this, we can drive forward improvements and maintain our focus on safety.
“We’ll continue to work with our partners, including our local authorities and Integrated Care Board, as part of our ongoing commitment to making improvements."
