Healthcare assistants at St George’s and Epsom & St Helier NHS trusts to be balloted for strike action says UNISON

Monday 1 December 2025
For immediate release

Healthcare assistants at St George’s and Epsom & St Helier NHS trusts to be balloted for strike action says UNISON

More than 600 healthcare assistants at the St George’s, Epsom & St Helier NHS hospital group are to be formally balloted for strike action after the trusts refused to compensate them fairly for years of underpayment, says UNISON today (Monday)

The ballot opens today and will run for three weeks, until Monday 22 December.

It follows a consultation in which almost all (99%) staff said they were in favour of strike action.

The workers have been expected to routinely carry out clinical duties for many years, such as patient observations and complex care, despite these being tasks that should be paid at a higher grade, says UNISON.

The two employers, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Trust and Epsom & St Helier University NHS Hospitals Trust, have agreed the healthcare assistants should be moved from band two to three.

But UNISON says the trusts haven’t gone far enough to ensure they are fairly paid for the extra work they had already done. The union says managers have refused to negotiate and imposed just a year and five months’ back pay, which falls well short of what staff deserve.

UNISON London regional organiser Debbie Eakins said: “GESH has shown how much it values these healthcare assistants by offering so little. Many other hospitals have settled similar disputes by agreeing to pay far more.

“This is the worst back pay deal we’ve seen in London when it comes to settling this sort of dispute.

“There’s also been little recognition given to experienced staff. Those who have two years under their belts have been placed at the bottom of their new pay band, when the union had pushed for them to be at the top.

“Some workers who do significant amounts of unsocial hours have found themselves worse off because of the way this has been done.

“Staff deserve better. Healthcare assistants play a vital role in the NHS and services simply wouldn’t function without them.

“They must be properly compensated for the years they’ve been paid incorrectly.”

Notes to editors:
– Healthcare assistants can include the following roles: healthcare support workers, maternity care assistants, maternity support workers, theatre support workers, theatre support care workers, theatre support assistants, clinical support workers and endoscopy technicians.
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contact:
Emma Davey M: 07432 733187 E: [email protected]