East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) bosses put patient safety at risk by bringing in untrained strikebreakers during last month’s industrial action, says UNISON today.
In a letter to ESNEFT chief executive Nick Hulme, the union highlights “serious concerns” about the trust’s “reckless” decision which saw staff brought in from as far away as Manchester, Newcastle and Hull on rates of up to £27 an hour.
UNISON says this was an attempt to disrupt a five-day strike by cleaners, caterers, porters and other non-clinical support staff at Colchester Hospital and several other ESNEFT sites over plans to sell their jobs out of the NHS.
The strikebreakers were support workers outsourced by the trust to OCS, a private company which runs facilities at Ipswich Hospital. UNISON says OCS is a frontrunner to deliver support services across all ESNEFT sites.
In the letter, UNISON says that senior ESNEFT managers confirmed to the union that the trust paid for the strikebreakers to be put up in local hotels and to be bused to the hospital sites.
These workers were paid £27 an hour for a night shift and £17 for a day shift which is more than a newly qualified nurse, says UNISON. This is despite ESNEFT’s claim that outsourcing services would save the trust money.
OCS staff brought in by ESNEFT to cover portering roles were reportedly given just a two-hour induction for blood and oxygen monitoring duties, says UNISON. Regular training usually takes weeks of shadowing experienced staff.
When strikers returned to work on Saturday, they found milk and food left out past its use-by date rather than properly disposed of, which UNISON says poses a risk to patient safety.
Staff have also told the union they saw serious breaches of infection control procedures, including mixing clinical waste with regular rubbish and leaving it piled up in corridors.
ESNEFT told the press that all patients received at least one hot meal a day while caterers were picketing, but staff told the union this was not the case on many wards or in community hospitals.
More strikes are planned next week unless the trust abandons its outsourcing plans, says the union.
UNISON Eastern regional organiser Sam Older said: “ESNEFT’s sticking plaster solutions last month show exactly why staff are taking action. They don’t want to see the NHS pay through the nose for a worse service.
“It’s no surprise the trust has taken such a cavalier attitude to patient safety. There’s overwhelming evidence that outsourcing leads to dirtier hospitals and higher infection rates, but trust bosses are ploughing on regardless.
“Nick Hulme and the trust board can easily stop this disruption and protect patients, by keeping these essential NHS staff in the NHS where they belong.”
