{"id":19401,"date":"2019-10-31T13:03:57","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T13:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=19401"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:54:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:54:53","slug":"pathologists-barking-to-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=19401","title":{"rendered":"‘Pushed against the wall’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pathologists at a north east London NHS trust will strike on Monday (November 4)\u00c2\u00a0for a week in a dispute over new shift patterns which, it is claimed, could compromise the integrity of patients\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 samples.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite, which represents 88 biomedical scientists working at\u00c2\u00a0Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hospital, Romford\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0King George Hospital, Ilford\u00c2\u00a0who face losing about \u00c2\u014110,000 a year, said its members would strike from 9.00am on Monday (November 4) until\u00c2\u00a008.59am on Monday, November 11.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe pathologists will hold a rally at King George Hospital IG3 8YB\u00c2\u00a0in the bus station area at 11.00am on Monday (November 4).<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite members provide vital sample testing services to the two hospitals, as well as to GP practices across the area.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite warned the analysing of hundreds of patients\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 blood samples by the pathologists, who are employed by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, would be delayed.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe crux of the dispute is the lack of consultation by trust bosses in planning to move the present \u00e2\u20ac\u0098on call\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 system to a seven day a week shift system – the latest date for this imposition is Monday (November 4).<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite regional officer Ruth Hydon said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members are faced with an intransigent hardline management which refuses to enter into mature and constructive negotiations with Unite.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow our members have reluctantly decided to take a week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strike action against plans to cut their pay by \u00c2\u014110,000 a year and which will lead to an unsafe service for patients.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnfortunately, it will mean that hundreds of patients\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 samples will be delayed which we deeply regret, but our members feel that they have been pushed against the wall by the bosses,” she added.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bResponsibility for this dispute lies squarely with trust executives who have failed to meaningfully consult Unite members about these changes.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe new date for the imposition of this roster is now scheduled for Monday, but even this roster is a mess with many shifts not covered and staff being rostered on days they have already told the trust they cannot work.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has urged the trust to put the new system \u00e2\u20ac\u0098on hold\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and meet us to try to resolve the dispute, but management has refused,” Hydon went on to say.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bManagement doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t appreciate that our members have childcare and caring responsibilities, as well as other commitments outside of work.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe trust has given four different implementation dates this year so our members have had to rearrange their lives only for these dates to be withdrawn at the last minute causing enormous disruption to their family lives.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members stand to lose over \u00c2\u014110,000 a year in \u00e2\u20ac\u0098on call\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 payments, but they are also concerned that the management shambles will result in an unsafe service for patients.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMembers continue to believe that the management has not put in place safe levels of staffing for the shifts which will lead to delays and mistakes in patient test results.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe trust\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own staff survey shows that the hospitals have become increasingly difficult places to work in over the last two years and morale is rock bottom. A third of employees are thinking of leaving. Staff turnover, running at 14 per cent, is higher than the NHS average (10 per cent).<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe situation is exacerbated by a recruitment crisis in the pathology department and many of the shifts will not have a safe level of staffing, which should be of serious concern for the 750,000 people covered by the trust, who rely on this service for the analysing of vital blood samples.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pathologists at a north east London NHS trust will strike on Monday (November 4)\u00c2\u00a0for a week in a dispute over new shift patterns which, it is claimed, could compromise the integrity of patients\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 samples.   Unite, which represents 88 biomedical scientists working at\u00c2\u00a0Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hospital, Romford\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0King George Hospital, Ilford\u00c2\u00a0who face losing about \u00c2\u014110,000 a year, said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[29,1194],"wps_subtitle":"Pathologists to strike for a week over new shifts row at Barking NHS trust","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19401"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24878,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19401\/revisions\/24878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}