NHS IT staff at Warwick Hospital and George Eliot Hospital (Nuneaton), employed by South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and George Eliot hospital NHS Trust, are on a four-day strike (from yesterday - Tuesday) over their employers’ plans to force them to work for a new company called Innovate Healthcare Services.
The move undermines the integrity of the NHS and amounts to privatisation, because the staff will no longer be employed by the health service, says UNISON, which represents the workers.
Innovate is a wholly owned subsidiary company (subco) created by the employers. The IT workforce at the two trusts is scheduled to be transferred to the company on 1 December 2021, ending their NHS employment.
UNISON has proposed several alternative positions to the employers, including options that preserve their status in the NHS, even if the staff move to the subco. However, the employers have rejected all efforts to find a compromise, says the union.
The workers were strike yesterday and will strike today (Wednesday) this week, with further action on 23 and 24 November.
UNISON regional organiser Mike Wilson said: “Like many of their colleagues in healthcare, these staff actively chose to work for the NHS to serve the public. And they’ve done so through the toughest of times during the past few months of the pandemic.
“Now their employers have turned round to say they don’t want them and are forcing them to become a kind of private contractor. It’s not too late for these trusts to reconsider their position and work with the union to find a fair compromise.”
