Bryan and Barbara Clare, Stevenage Socialist Party
Following several months of failed negotiations with Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, about 400 Health Care Assistants (HCAs) at two hospitals – Bedford, and Luton and Dunstable – have had no other option but to take two days of industrial action. They are being asked to perform medical tasks above their pay grade, without any extra pay.
We spoke to the Unison strikers at Luton and Dunstable who said they are just asking for what they are due. They explained that HCAs in salary Band 2 of the pay scale should only be providing basic personal care, such as changing and feeding patients. For some time now they have been told to take bloods and blood pressures, ECGs, bladder scans, remove cannulas and catheters, apply simple dressings, and carry out neuro observations. These are Band 3 tasks for which they are not being paid.
New staff to the hospital, after two or three months of training, are paid on Band 3, while existing HCAs who have worked at the hospital for many years remain on Band 2. They were also concerned that they can no longer give their patients the time and care that they need due to these additional duties.
Other Trusts have acknowledged the additional responsibility and awarded HCAs accordingly. One Unison member told us that, come April, they will be on the minimum wage. “We have been knowingly abused for years,” said one striker. They are asking for this pay to be backdated to 2018.
The strikers we spoke to were angry that the University of Bedfordshire nursing department had sent in student nurses to cover the strikers’ work – they were given no choice and were not being paid!
Another striker told us that during Covid they were the ones who were administering care to Covid patients. Shift work was also an issue: they could have day and night shifts in the same week.
The atmosphere on both sites was fantastic. The response from passing cars was amazing. They are determined to fight for a just result, and will strike again if the Trust does not meet their demands.
