James Collett and Sue Powell, Gloucestershire Socialist Party
Phlebotomists – those who take blood – are striking in Cheltenham and Gloucester hospitals where the real bloodsucker seems to be the hospital trust’s CEO on an annual £300,000+ salary. Fed up with being overworked, underpaid and unappreciated, Unison members in Gloucestershire balloted for strike action.
A placard sums up their grievance: “We’ve got the skills but we can’t pay the bills”. Several workers said their kids leave school to stack shelves in supermarkets for a higher hourly rate than they get, even after years doing work which requires skills beyond simply taking blood. “Our experience allows us to painlessly extract blood from elderly patients who would be left black and blue by doctors,” explained one woman. “The work we do, now being done by managers, follows a complex protocol. Taking blood puts you at risk of HIV, Hep A, B and C”.
Their case is simple: they are specialist health care workers, facing patients and at risk all day, and should at least be on Band 3 pay. Before the strike, nurses at the hospital assumed phlebotomists were Band 4, which is the case in many places. “We’re also at risk from many infectious diseases. If I get a needle injury and contract hepatitis, I won’t be allowed to work and could lose my job. Patients can behave unpredictably, so there’s no guarantee we won’t get stuck with a needle”.
“It’s not just taking blood. We work with disabled people, children, patients terrified of needles, patients who are terminally ill or simply anxious”.
Currently three phlebotomists share one room, which is so cramped they have to warn each other if ‘Chair 2’ is in use, as they can knock into each other. They used to have four rooms. There are no tea breaks.
Everyone said they love their job, and didn’t take strike action lightly. One woman who’s been doing the job for 18 years summed it up: “We’re treated like we don’t exist – we want recognition. Nobody goes into this job for the money, but we have to pay the bills and we can’t do that now. We want to go back to work, but we won’t go without justice”.
Another woman added: “For years they’ve just shoved us in a corner”. Now they’ve come out of their corner fighting.
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