130 patient treatments missed for each strike day

Hundreds of patients, including those with cancer, are seeing care cancelled during industrial action, as the Northern Care Alliance admits there is a risk of people coming to harm.

Strikes have rocked the trust in recent months, with more than 350 staff walking out over a dispute about overtime payments. The row centres on the use of an outside agency – NHS Professionals – to manage overtime, with Unison saying staff can earn less than they would on a normal shift, with some missing out on as much as £80. 

But it appears to be patients who are bearing the brunt of the impact. New figures from Northern Care Alliance, which runs Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and Fairfield Hospital in Bury, show between 120 and 130 treatments are cancelled for each day of industrial action.

This includes cancer treatment, the NCA has said. Care is cancelled because regulations around staff walkouts reduce theatre capacity to Christmas Day levels. 

Christmas Day cover means only trauma care and emergency, or life and limb, operations can be delivered. Strikes took place for three days this month, as well as in August and in June.

Unison said the ‘last thing’ its members want is to see treatment cancelled. North West regional organiser Kevin Dolan added the figures ‘do not highlight a failure by workers’ but the trust’s ‘failure to resolve a dispute entirely of its own making’. 

Leaders at the trust said they are concerned that too narrow a view is being taken as to what constitutes emergency care and that patients could come to harm, however. The trust was previously forced to declare a critical incident in relation to the walkouts.

The latest difficulties come after the trust has faced criticism in recent weeks after  its own board papers revealed dozens of patients died or ‘came to harm‘ due to treatment delays and serious errors made by staff working under extreme pressure. 

Responding to questions from councillors this week, Leah Robbins, chief operating officer at NCA, said: “As you can imagine, there aren’t normally three Christmas Days in the middle of August or September. So on those industrial action days, we do have lists that have say oncology patients on them and all of those lists are cancelled.

“We have to go through those lists with our consultants and risk rate them because the list just can’t take place and we have to move them to the following week. We have had consultants in the negotiations to try to explain, while it’s not life or limb immediately, there is harm that can be caused to patients by them waiting a couple of days.”

She said there have been some circumstances where they have been able to carry out some of that care, but ‘on the whole’ cancer patients due for treatment have had to be moved to the following week.

Juliette Cosgrove, chief nurse at NCA, added the decision on which care to continue lies with Unison, but stressed the union’s current approach is within industrial action legislation. 

She continued: “There is a disagreement between us and Unison about what we think is required for emergency care. We believe that emergency care is greater than the agreement that we’ve got.

“I’m not saying Unison is doing the right or the wrong thing, I’m saying there is a difference of opinion about what we believe to be required to meet the needs of the patients from a safety and emergency point of view and what Unison believes.”

The NCA is ‘committed to working with Unison to seek a resolution’, Ms Robbins added.

Unison North West regional organiser Kevin Dolan said: “The last thing our members want is for operations to be cancelled. These theatre workers chose their profession because they care deeply about patients and are committed to providing the best possible care for the people of Greater Manchester.

“The reality is that none of these operations would have been affected if Northern Care Alliance had honoured the contracts of its theatre staff.  The trust has already proved it can resolve the exact same issue for staff elsewhere in the organisation. There is no reason it can’t do the same for theatre workers.  

“If NCA bosses believe publicising cancellation figures will discourage staff from taking part in lawful industrial action, they have badly misjudged the situation. These figures do not highlight a failure by workers. They highlight the trust’s failure to resolve a dispute entirely of its own making. 

“The fastest way to prevent any further disruption to patients is for the Northern Care Alliance to honour its staff’s contracts and give these workers the treatment they deserve.”