Loyal Kettering hospital 'bank' health care assistants denied lump sum payment beg 'treat us fairly and with respect'

NHS bank health care staff at Kettering General Hospital (KGH), who tended the dying during the Covid pandemic, say they have been snubbed after being left out of a national pay award.

The zero-hour contracted bank staff are paid at the same rate of pay as substantive employees, choosing which shifts they work but without benefits of holiday or sick pay.

Health care assistants believe they should be entitled to the pandemic backlog bonus, like their substantive colleagues, after keeping wards going during the pandemic.

A recent NHS pay award included a bonus of up to £1,600 for post-pandemic pressures and a one-off two per cent payment of annual salary for all contracted workers but not for bank staff.

Health care assistant Maria Whiteman, who switched to working bank after being substantive for 12 years, said: “It’s a kick in the teeth to hear other staff say they have had this payment. We’ve been discriminated against. I’m with the union and we were told that they would support everyone. We went out on strike, but now they’ve won the pay settlement we’ve been thrown under the bus. I feel let down.”

Bank staff have benefited from a percentage increase in their wages backdated to April but the health care assistants, some of the lowest paid on wards, say that equates to £6 extra a shift.

Ms Whiteman said: “This isn’t an attack on the hospital. We are loyal to the NHS. We want to be treated fairly and get our voice heard.”

The health care assistants say during the pandemic they were routinely deployed in Covid red zones taking on tasks other nursing employees would not take on.

Kerry Houghton, a KGH health care assistant for 12 years, remembers sitting with dozens of patients as they succumbed to the effects of Covid-19 – as relatives were not allowed on wards.

She said: “I’m extremely proud to work at Kettering General and I enjoy working there. Working through Covid at the hospital was an experience that I don’t think anybody will ever forget. It wasn’t easy. I can’t even begin to tell you how many souls, their eyes closed so quickly, without even a moment to say goodbye – hands just slipped through mine. We were there for them when the relatives couldn’t be there. We were dealing with death on a daily basis."

As Covid swept through the hospital in March 2020, Ms Houghton was tasked with cleaning with an elderly patient with Covid who had been left soiled and needed personal care – permanent staff without PPE had been too ‘frightened’ to go into the room.

She said: “I was tearful. He was tearful. I did what I could. A week after that I caught Covid. I was off for sixteen weeks and I’ve had long Covid ever since.”

Despite struggling with her breathing she returned to work.

She said: “We really appreciated being clapped for but it’s not much to ask for a little something in return. A lot of the work was done from the heart and the soul but then to be told you are not going to receive the payment we were promised, for the duties that we performed during Covid. I believe I am NHS staff that’s who it says pays me on my payslip. Our pension is paid by them, we have been trained by them, we’re paid by the NHS.

"I am worried I could lose my job. I’m proud to work at KGH. I love my job. I love to care for my patients. We are skilled workers. Nurses are weighed down with paperwork and hand out medication. There’s a lot of things that health care assistants are doing. Am I not worth anything? I’m worth it to the person I’m caring for.

”This is to get the message across that there should not be division. We are all there to treat people.”

Ms Whiteman added: “We should be treated with respect and I don’t think we are. We’re not getting the payment. We’re not agency workers who are on far more than us.

”We all work full-time and we need to not be discriminated against.”

The petition states: “We want the Government to ensure that all NHS bank staff in England, who have worked tirelessly for the NHS under Agenda for Change (AfC) but are not directly employed by NHS trusts, receive non-consolidated payments as part of the NHS pay deal.”

Scotland and Wales bank staff are set to receive these payments after a change of heart.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Steve Barclay formally confirmed in the House of Commons that the Government was to implement the offer made to unions, the majority of which accept the offer – supported by NHS employers on the NHS ‘Agenda for Change’ a pay and conditions structure – but only for ‘eligible’ staff.

He said: “As a result, over 1 million eligible NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract will receive two non-consolidated payments for 2022-23. This is on top of an at least £1,400 consolidated pay award that they have already received, which was in line with the recommendations of the independent pay review body.

“Eligible AfC staff will receive an award worth two per cent of an individual’s salary for 2022-23. In addition, these staff will receive a one-off bonus which recognises the sustained pressure facing the NHS following the Covid-19 pandemic and the extraordinary effort these members of staff have been making to hit backlog recovery targets. This NHS Backlog Bonus is an investment worth an additional four per cent of the Agenda for Change paybill, and will mean staff will receive an additional payment of between £1,250 and £1,600.”