NHS pay strike threatens blood test results

Unite will ballot members over new year walk-out, saying workers cannot afford to do job anymore

NHS blood test results are under threat after Unite said thousands of workers would be balloted over strike action.

The union, which represents 100,000 healthcare workers, said it would serve formal proceedings to NHS employers, and a vote for strike action could mean walkouts in the new year.

The announcement will bring thousands more NHS workers into possible strike action this winter. It comes as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is expected to announce this week its 300,000 workers have voted for industrial action.

If the strike goes ahead, the NHS will turn into a “bank holiday service” with some patients facing cancelled chemotherapy and dialysis treatments, senior health leaders warned yesterday.

The action is expected to worsen the backlog of waiting patients for treatment on the NHS, which now stands at seven million.

About 350,000 health workers are already being balloted by Unison, including nursing staff and ambulance crews, at more than 250 health trusts across the UK.

The GMB union is balloting 15,000 ambulance workers in England and Wales. Ballots are taking place at every ambulance service in England. Unite will ask biomedical scientists, which analyse and report blood test results, to walk out over a pay dispute.

Last year, a group of scientists working for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust went on strike over pay. The workers, represented by Unite, stopped doing night, weekend and late shifts as part of the action.

Some 130 million blood tests are carried out by the NHS in England every year. They are used to assess a patient’s general health, to check if they have an infection, to screen for genetic conditions or see if certain organs are functioning correctly.

Some results will be processed in a day, but others can take a few weeks to be returned to the hospital or GP.

Any walk-out by biomedical scientists could severely delay the return of results, which are needed to inform a patient’s treatment. It comes as seven million patients are waiting to start treatment on the NHS, while 1.5 million are awaiting a scan or diagnostic test.

The union said last night members are in “despair” and are “thousands of pounds a year down on pay”.

All NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts in England were awarded a pay rise earlier this year, which equates to around £1,400 a year. For nursing staff this amounts to around 4 per cent, but the RCN is demanding a pay award of 5 per cent above inflation.

Other NHS workers Unite will ballot over industrial action include dental assistants, mental health nurses, health visitors and counsellors.

Ambulance workers in Wales will also be balloted, alongside those in England which have already begun voting.

Colenzo Jarrett-thorpe, Unite’s national officer for health, said: “The strike across the NHS is widening because our members have had enough.

“They are watching the NHS that they have given their lives to fall apart in front of their eyes because of 12 years of Tory cuts.

“And the truth is that they cannot afford to do the job [anymore].”

‘Our members are watching the NHS that they have given their lives to fall apart in front of their eyes’