Strike on the cards at Dorset hospitals in outsourcing dispute

Healthcare staff at three NHS trusts in Dorset say they want to vote for strike action in a row over plans to move 1,700 staff from the NHS to an external company.

An overwhelming majority (98%) of members, including porters and cleaners, have backed plans for an industrial action ballot, which is set to open in the coming weeks. Any action could result in widespread disruption across the region.

The NHS foundation trusts – Dorset HealthCare University, Dorset County Hospital, and University Hospitals Dorset – want to move the mainly low-paid support workers to a wholly owned subsidiary company, or subco.

The controversial plan goes against government promises to bring employees back into the NHS, rather than outsource them. Ahead of the 2024 general election, Labour said it would “bring about the biggest wave of insourcing of public services in a generation.”

The staff affected are currently employed at hospitals across Dorset including Dorset County, Royal Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and Weymouth.

UNISON says these workers fear they’ll receive inferior pay and conditions, and be unable to access career opportunities available to NHS employees if they’re contracted out to an external operator.

South West regional secretary Kerry Baigent said: “The NHS depends on these workers to keep hospitals clean, safe and running efficiently. Many are already low-paid and outsourcing will leave them with a raw deal.

“Porters, cleaners and other staff want to be part of the NHS, working as one team to give patients the best care possible. But this move casts valuable employees out to an arms-length company with no guarantee over pay and conditions.

“The NHS needs to be rebuilt, not dismantled and parcelled off to the lowest bidder,” Ms Baigent continued. “The government needs to honour its pledge to insource public services.

“This plan by these trusts goes against Labour’s manifesto promise. It makes support staff feel they’re not valued – and they won’t be treated in this way.”

‘The use of outsourcing – under whatever guise – will continue to be resisted’

Writing a comment piece in the Health Service Journal, this week, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea condemned NHS England’s “dogmatic attachment to using subsidiary companies”, which encourages trusts to continue to turn to subcos as a way of cutting deficits.

“But this means outsourcing thousands of low-paid and overwhelmingly female health workers to non-NHS bodies,” she wrote. “It would also disproportionately affect Black workers at a time when the NHS wants to tackle discriminatory practices.”

Ms McAnea noted that UNISON has written to all trusts, to highlight the dangers inherent in this approach and remind senior managers of the campaigns that unions “fought and won” the last time subcos were the go-to option for desperate health bodies.

“Many trusts have heeded the warning, but some are ploughing ahead regardless,” she continued. “The multi-trust project at Dorset is one such case. An overwhelming majority of UNISON members have felt compelled to vote decisively in support of industrial action in a consultative ballot that closed last week.

“Staff continue to value their employment in the NHS and will not accept being farmed out to external operators. This is especially so because transferred staff will be cut adrift from wider career opportunities, including apprenticeships, within the NHS.

“The subco policy contradicts the Labour government’s promise to deliver the ‘biggest wave of insourcing of public services for a generation’. It also threatens to derail the staffing elements of the government’s 10-year Health Plan, where it is recognised that workers ‘have too often been treated as a commodity rather than as an asset’.”

Ms McAnea concluded: “Health unions are always prepared to engage with trusts, NHS England and the government on service redesign and efficiency. No NHS worker wants to see their employers in financial distress.

“But the use of outsourcing – under whatever guise – will continue to be resisted.”