Lab staff take strike action over pay row
Staff are key to blood tests at Camden's hospitals
Friday, 5th September — By Tom Foot
The protest in Mabledon Place [Simon Lamrock]
HUNDREDS of laboratory staff have begun a three-day strike saying they are overworked and underpaid.
Workers at Health Services Laboratories, backed by union Unite, say they have reached breaking point after months of negotiations broke down.
Picket lines were set up in Mabledon Place, King’s Cross, and at the Whittington, Highgate, yesterday (Wednesday).
Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is yet another example of the failure of privatisation within the NHS. A service being run for profit, that cuts corners and puts both staff and patient safety at risk by focusing on volume rather than quality.”
HSL analyses almost anything removed from a patient in Camden hospitals – mainly bloods and tissues – and returns to the doctors. It is a joint venture between The Doctors Laboratory (TDL) – a private firm based in Warren Street – University College London Hospitals and the Royal Free London foundation trusts.
Half of the profits from the NHS services go to the parent company – the Australian firm Sonic Healthcare – with the rest split between the other two trusts.
In 2015, hundreds of staff at the two hospitals were transferred onto the books of the company HSL.
At the time workers warned in the New Journal that they would be worse off in terms of pay, conditions and employment protection rights. The Defend Whittington Hospital Coalition joined the picket line, along with Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn.
He said: “They have had enough of being exploited and underpaid – another example of the failure of NHS privatisation.”
Shirley Franklin, chair of the DWHC, added: “This situation has arisen because the pathology service was effectively privatised some years ago. So workers have lost their NHS contracts, and are expected to do extra heavy workloads and prioritise private bloods.
“We say stop outsourcing all NHS work and put health before wealth.”
A spokesperson for HSL said: “Unite’s decision to call a three-day strike is regrettable. We have robust contingency plans in place and we are working closely with the NHS to ensure that everyone receives the care and treatment they require.”
