'More than 150' protesters 'stormed' a Greater Manchester hospital building demanding a pay rise. Healthcare support workers from across four hospitals in the region joined together in a bid to urge the hospitals' chief executive to issue a pay upgrade.
The NHS support workers who protested a hospital trust board meeting at Salford Royal Hospital on Monday (September 26) say they are being 'overworked and underpaid'. The support workers currently fall into a 'band two' pay grade, despite 'constantly' being asked to complete 'band three'-level tasks, they claim.
Band two tasks include personal care such as changing bedding, bathing patients, and providing toileting help. But the support workers say they are taking blood, fitting cannulas and giving emergency care - jobs with more advanced clinical skills that fall into the higher salary bracket.
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Other hospital trusts across the region have already transferred band two support workers onto the higher salary, says the protester, but the Northern Care Alliance (NCA) NHS Foundation Trust has not. The NCA operates Salford Royal, Fairfield General Hospital, the Royal Oldham Hospital and Rochdale Infirmary.
"So many of us are doing band three roles but only being paid as a band two. It's expected of us but we're not being paid like that, we're thought of as less than. But when you've got a ward full of patients, you feel like you can't say no to those jobs just because you're not that band," one support worker who joined the protest told the Manchester Evening News .
"The NCA keeps turning a blind eye. But if the CEO doesn't want to listen, we'll make him listen. We're the glue that holds the NHS together," the staff member warned.
'More than 150' staff members marched on the Salford Royal building where the NCA's monthly board meeting was being held on Monday. They were joined by staff from fellow NCA hospitals virtually. The group occupied the room opposite the board meeting and began chanting, disrupting the meeting, the M.E.N. understands.
The protesters demanded that the trust's chief executive, Dr Owen Williams, sign a pledge to read grievance forms which had been signed by 'more than 1,000' NHS colleagues, according to the support workers. After initially declining, the chief executive did sign the pledge after staff insisted he read the text, say eyewitnesses.
"We're supposed to be delivering personal care which is quite basic. But we're never going to say 'no, I won't put that cannula in that patient' or 'no, I won't take their blood'," said another protester.
"All of those clinical tasks have to be recorded and we've got to put our names to hem. It's more responsibility and we're held accountable for those procedures.
"Often we're asked to do these things because there aren't enough registered nurses on shift. We've had extra training for these skills but we're not allowed to be paid for them."
A starting salary for a band two worker is £20,270, rising to £21,318 for someone with more than two years' experience. Band three starts at £21,730, rising to £23,177 for more than two years' experience.
"It's never ending, you're asked to do things above your pay grade all the time," said another member of the protesting group. More than 150 people showed up to the demonstration and we said we were going to storm the board meeting.
"We had at least 1,000 signatures on the grievance forms with wider NHS support from domestic workers, doctors, nurses."
Dr Owen Williams, NCA Chief Executive, said: “I met briefly with colleagues on Monday morning to discuss their concerns and after taking time to read the pledge, I was happy to sign it to show my commitment to support them.
“We are already working with our local union representatives, in line with the Greater Manchester framework on this issue, and I have agreed to a further meeting with affected colleagues so we have more time to discuss these matters in greater detail.”
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