HOSPITAL staff have voted ‘overwhelmingly’ for strike action in a long-running industrial dispute.

Theatre staff at Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have voted to strike in a row over changes to their terms and conditions that they believe could adversely affect patient care.

Staff and hospital bosses have been at loggerheads for four years over new rotas for emergency night cover in operating theatres.

Proposals include changes to the number of professional staff on call onsite at night and how they would be utilised on emergency shifts, as well as the removal of a support worker post.

The plans would also have a ‘significant’ impact on the pay of some staff members.

Nearly 80 per cent of Unite union member who voted in a ballot backed strike action.

The union said that the vote displayed a ‘depth of anger which cannot be ignored’ and is calling for talks to take place in order to avoid strikes.

Unite regional officer Derek Jones said: “Healthcare workers take their professional duties extremely seriously and industrial action is always a last resort, but the trust management has failed to listen to their concerns for a long time and they had no other option left to them.

“This has caused and continues to cause great stress to our members, yet they have been very concerned from a professional perspective over the proposed loss of key support staff and the reduction of highly-skilled professional staff at night providing emergency theatre cover.

“As a professional theatre team, the care of their patients is paramount and after a long and serious contemplation our members felt the only way to refocus the trust’s attention was through an industrial action ballot.

“Staff are keen to find a negotiated resolution but believe they have been given no alternative but to consider strike action in a bid to protect their terms and conditions and patient safety.

“We would urge the trust to recognise the strength of feeling of its workers and to find a resolution to the issues in dispute to avoid strike action by theatre staff going ahead.

“We are currently in talks with the management, however if there is not a speedy resolution to this dispute we will be announcing dates for industrial action in the near future.”

Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that there were no issues relating to patient safety and the strike action was solely due to pay.

Jan Ross, acting chief operating officer at Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It is very disappointing that Warrington Hospital’s theatre staff have announced their intention to take industrial action despite a number of offers made by the trust to avoid such action, including an offer to mediate through ACAS which has been refused outright.

“The trust is proposing to harmonise the shift patterns, rosters and on-call arrangements for theatre staff in line with NCEPOD guidance.

“Currently there are issues of overstaffing an inequity in pay in some staff groups which is both unfair and unacceptable.

“There are no patients safety issues related to this action – this is an action purely related to pay and terms and conditions.

“The trust has already conducted a quality impact assessment which provided assurance that the proposed changes to rostering are safe.

“In addition, an external expert was contracted to conduct and independent assessment, and this was received earlier this month with the verdict that the proposals were safe.”

The hospital said that its attempts at negotiating a deal had been met with ‘significant resistance’.

Ms Ross added: “Theatre staff have rejected any proposal from the trust that is anything other than to maintain the status quo.

“Attempts have been made over the past four years to resolve the inequity in pay and overstaffing issues which has been met each time by significant resistance and the lodging of grievances.

“Comprehensive arrangements have been made by the trust to ensure that patients are not affected by this industrial action.”