A Glasgow ward clerk joined strike action for the first time in her 18-year career today as the fight for better pay and grading continues.
Caroline Grant joined dozens of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) colleagues who rallied at Gartnavel Royal Hospital as part of two days of strike action that will continue tomorrow.
"I've never come out on strike before, but we have to fight to get our jobs recognised and to get the pay that we deserve," Caroline said.
Caroline is one of hundreds of ward clerks who picketed outside hospitals across Glasgow today after an overwhelming 98 per cent backed a walkout in a UNISON ballot.
It comes as ward clerks claim that since the Covid-19 pandemic, they have been tasked with taking on extra responsibilities without "seeing a penny for it".
Ward clerks typically provide administrative support to healthcare professionals, welcoming patients, relatives and visitors, answering phone calls and emails, managing access to medical records and handling patient test results. They say they were then handed additional work temporarily, but that has now become the norm.
Caroline explained: "We were told that additional responsibilities were going to be temporary but, when normal business returned to the NHS, nothing changed for us.
"We are taking on a lot of extra work regarding processing legal documents, for example, and have not been paid one extra penny for it."
At the rally, workers demanded four years of backdated pay and for their grade to be moved from band two to band three.
They chanted, marched around the headquarters of the NHSGGC board, held placards and UNISON flags and even broke into a spontaneous slosh in the rain.
Despite the creative ways of getting their message across, Caroline warned that staff across Glasgow hospitals will be hugely impacted by the action today and tomorrow.
She continued: "There will be two nurses approximately per ward, depending on the ratio of staff to patients. They'll be answering the phones, answering the buzzers and doors, and the phone will be ringing. There will be patients going to theatre, relatives who want to know how their loved ones are doing, but there will be nobody there to answer the call."
The strike action has gone ahead despite a year of negotiations with the health board, Frances Carmichael, branch secretary of UNISON NHSGGC & CVS, said.
She added: "We were led to believe there would be another improved offer on the table. That didn't come, and instead we were presented with an offer we had previously turned down. So, this offer was rejected immediately."
It comes after we previously reported that ward clerks last month as a final appeal to NHSGGC to re-evaluate ward clerks’ pay grades.
A spokesperson for NHSGGC said: "NHSGGC greatly values the work of our ward clerks and remains committed to working in partnership with trade union representatives and staff to resolve the outstanding issues. We continue to engage constructively and remain open to further discussions.
"Patient safety remains our highest priority throughout this period. Contingency plans are in place to support the safe delivery of patient care, and we expect services to operate as normal. We will continue to monitor arrangements closely throughout any period of industrial action."
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