A national campaign to improve pay and recognition for health staff has seen more than 40,000 workers, including healthcare assistants (HCAs) and some nurses, moved onto a higher pay band.
The union Unison today gave an update on the success of its Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign, at its annual Health Care Service Group Conference, being held in Liverpool this week.
“We all know it takes enormous courage and determination to go out on strike”
Helga Pile
While the campaign has mostly focused on up-banding HCAs, other professions like nurses, phlebotomists and administration staff have also benefited.
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, paid tribute to the campaign during a keynote speech at the conference.
She announced that the union had won up to £154m in back pay for health staff, putting money into the pockets of as many as 40,000 health workers.
Ms McAnea said: “Some have had to take strike action to get it, and others have been able to use the threat of walking out to win fair pay and back pay.
“But what all have in common is Unison branches and regions who are ready for the fight, who are organised and who are determined to win for members.”
Ms McAnea said she saw firsthand last year why Pay Fair for Patient Care was needed when she was visiting her husband in hospital in the last few months of his life.
She said: “I met a specialist phlebotomist, when my husband was in hospital. She came in regularly to find a vein in his arm.
“She was brought in by specialist nurses on that ward because of her skills.
“When I got chatting to her over the course of those weeks, she was still a band two.”
Christina McAnea delivering a keynote speech at the Unison 2025 National Health Care Service Group Conference
Ms McAnea added: “I saw nurses regularly working way beyond the end of their shift, and healthcare assistants going way above and beyond what they were paid for.”
The Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign is continuing, with multiple strikes taking place this week.
Ms McAnea sent the support of the union to phlebotomists in Gloucester and Cheltenham, who were taking action this afternoon.
A livestream was played at the conference of those on the picket line, which received a standing ovation by union members.
Meanwhile, Ms McAnea also paid tribute to HCAs who are due to strike this Thursday in Nottingham.
“Your union stands in solidarity with all of you,” she said.
Helga Pile, Unison’s national secretary for health, led a tribute to all the health members who had taken industrial action over the last year.
She noted campaigns by Lewisham and Greenwich HCAs, Grimsby midwifery support workers, Greater Manchester mental health early intervention workers and Surrey and Sussex healthcare nursing assistants, among others.
Ms Pile added: “We all know it takes enormous courage and determination to go out on strike and to keep going out for as long as it takes, no matter what your employer throws at you.
“We are paying tribute to health members here who have exhausted all other options and found themselves with no other choice but to take action to stand up for themselves and for what’s right.”
Nursing Times coverage of the Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign
