Patients at seven major London hospitals face severe disruption next month as more than 800 pathology workers are set to walk out in a dispute over pay and grading.
Blood, skin and tissue testing at laboratories run by Health Services Laboratory (HSL) and its sister company The Doctors’ Laboratory will come to a halt during the strike, which is taking place on 3, 4 and 5 September.
The action is expected to have a significant impact on A&E departments – including at a major trauma centre – and could see operations cancelled at hospitals such as Royal Free, North Middlesex, University College London Hospital, Whittington, Ealing, Northwick Park and Barnet. The union warned operations could be cancelled.
Pathology staff carry out more than 70% of all NHS diagnostic work. Unite says their absence will put both routine and emergency services across the capital under “enormous strain” over the three-day strike.
Unite, the union representing the workers, says the laboratories’ grading system lacks transparency, meaning staff often do more senior work without proper pay or earn less than colleagues doing the same role. Unlike NHS-employed staff, HSL workers are not covered by national pay scales.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is yet another example of the failure of privatisation within the NHS. A service being run for profit, that cuts corners and puts both staff and patient safety at risk by focusing on volume rather than quality.
Our members are being short changed and a byzantine grading system means HSL are trying to get away with a race to the bottom over pay. Unite simply won’t allow such practices to continue.”
The union is also calling for improvements to terms and conditions, including better sick pay, annual leave entitlements and paid special leave, which currently does not exist.
HSL, which is owned by Australian healthcare firm Sonic and chaired by Labour peer Lord Carter, reported profits of nearly £100m last year. Unite claims staff have been forced to process hundreds of extra samples per day without safe staffing levels in place.
Unite regional officer Mark Boothroyd said: “Our members at HSL are standing up for the health service and simply want the same conditions as their colleagues in the NHS. They have had enough of being exploited and underpaid. The NHS desperately needs more investment in staff for the benefit of patients, but instead we have a multinational company more interested in paying out millions to shareholders.”
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