Theatre staff at Leeds NHS hospitals to strike for 48 hours this week in pay row
Hospital staff in Leeds are set to strike later this week, UNISON has announced.
NHS Staff who work in operating theatres in hospitals across Leeds will take industrial action for two days in a dispute over money they are owed, UNISON announced on Monday (December 15).
Theatre assistants employed across four of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s sites will walk out at 8am on Thursday (December 18). Industrial action is set to last for 48 hours.
It comes as resident doctors across England voted overwhelmingly in favour of going ahead with a planned five-day strike starting at 7am on Wednesday (December 17).
Theatre assistants perform essential tasks such as inserting cannulas, collecting samples and sterilising equipment, which UNISON says should have been paid at a higher rate.
Staff should be moved to the correct pay grade and compensated fairly “for the extra duties they’ve already carried out,” the union claims.
According to UNISON, the trust’s interim chief executive, Brendan Brown, oversaw a deal at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust earlier this year that saw staff given five years’ back pay.
The union added that the Leeds trust’s refusal to settle up is “out of step” with what is happening elsewhere in the region and across the country.
“The last thing staff want to be doing is standing on a cold picket line in the run-up to Christmas,” UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside area organiser Imogen Woods said. “But they have been asking managers to resolve this for over a year now and have been left with no other option.
“There is still time for the trust to avoid this strike. Hospital managers simply need to pay staff fairly for the work they’ve done.”
Tim Hiles, Chief Operating Officer for Leeds Teaching Hospitals said: “This inevitably will impact on our theatre services and also coincides with national industrial action being taken by Resident Doctors between Thursday 18 to Monday 22 December.
“In planning for both periods of industrial action patient safety is our main priority and our teams are working hard to put in place plans to ensure we can continue to provide emergency care and minimise disruption to planned care for our patients.
“Patients who haven’t been contacted or informed that their planned appointment or procedure has been postponed should attend as normal.
“If any patients require emergency care they should continue to use emergency services as they normally would by calling 999 or visiting A&E. For other health concerns, please use NHS 111, your GP services and local pharmacy.
“We’re continuing to work with colleagues in theatres and with our staff side representatives to try and resolve this dispute as soon as possible.”