Dorset NHS staff vote to strike in outsourcing row

Health workers in Dorset have voted for strike action over plans that could see thousands of employees transferred out of the NHS, says UNISON today (Thursday).

The union warns there could be further walkouts by NHS staff up and down the country if the government doesn’t clamp down on hospital trusts farming out support services to subsidiary companies, known as SubCos*.

Low paid staff at three NHS trusts in Dorset have overwhelmingly backed industrial action. In the ballot that closed yesterday, 94% of workers, including porters, caterers and cleaners, backed strike action over their employers’ plans to move them from the NHS to a new company.

The trusts – Dorset HealthCare University, Dorset County Hospital, and University Hospitals Dorset – want to move 1,700 mainly low-paid support workers to a SubCo.

Ahead of last year’s general election, Labour promised to “bring about the biggest wave of insourcing of public services in a generation”.

Despite this, UNISON says NHS England is promoting the idea of trusts moving support staff to SubCos to cut costs by reducing their VAT bills.

UNISON South West regional secretary Kerry Baigent said:

“Health staff in Dorset have sent a clear and powerful message. They will not stand by while employers try to move them out of the NHS and into second-class contracts

“UNISON has seen this before, when employers set up subsidiary companies, staff always lose out in the long run. The Dorset trusts should listen to their staff, abandon these damaging plans and keep services in-house where they belong.”