Strike cancelled as hospital drops plan for staffing

A UNION said the “threat of privatisation has been removed” after a Yorkshire hospital trust abandoned plans to transfer hundreds of workers into a private company.

Strike action was planned to take place at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs hospitals in Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury, over three days next week in a dispute over plans to move around 900 nonmedical staff to an outside firm.

The plan sparked fierce opposition from the union Unison and local MPs, who urged the Trust to scrap the proposal for a “whollyowned subsidiary” (WOS) company to take over some services.

Unison branch secretary Adrian O’Malley said stewards were told in a meeting yesterday that the plan had been dropped.

He said: “Our members are delighted that the threat of privatisation has been removed.

“They have shown they were prepared to fight to maintain their NHS employment. We are part of the NHS team and now that the threat of the WOS has been removed will remain part of the NHS team.”

Mark Bradon, director of estates, facilities and IMT and the Trust, said all work on the formation of a WOS had ceased.

“Despite the uncertainty, our staff have continued to provide a quality service to patients, staff and visitors, for which the Trust board is very grateful,” he added.

Last year Labour’s Shadow health spokesperson Lord Hunt told a similar plan to run facilities, estates and purchasing at Keighley Hospital via a private company was “privatisation by the back door”, and described such plans as a “bit of a scam” to avoid paying VAT.

He said: “I understand that they are under great financial pressure but the real answer is that we have to fund the NHS properly.”