Hospital workers in Taunton, Somerset are involved in a massive fight against being thrown out of the NHS and having their jobs handed over to a health privateer.
Hundreds of porters, housekeepers, maintenance and facilities workers protested at a rally in Taunton last Thursday against plans to transfer them from their NHS trust to a private company owned by that trust, their union said.
Unison South West regional organiser Helen Eccles said members are ‘really concerned’ that the move would ‘fragment the NHS’.
Around 350 non-clinical staff at Yeovil District Hospital have already been working for Simply Serve, a subsidiary company of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, since 2018.
The union said the trust is now seeking to ‘expand the company’ to incorporate staff working at other hospitals in the trust.
Those include Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, three mental health units and 13 community hospitals across the county.
Maria Harris, a service assistant at Dene Barton Community Hospital in Cotford St Luke, who took part in the protest rally, said: ‘Our main concern is we don’t know what is happening and how it’s going to affect us.
‘I know change happens but it’s the unknown. They can tell you one thing and do something completely different.’
Bogdan Mardale, who works at Yeovil District Hospital, said: ‘We’re proud to work for the NHS and we want to be part of the NHS family.
‘We’re talking about equality, we’re talking about being in the same trust, but we’re feeling we are not being in the same trust because we are in a different company.’
Helen Eccles said more than 700 union members have signed a petition against the proposed change, stating: ‘There’s a whole team of staff delivering NHS services whether you’re a porter, someone working in catering or the nurse, the doctor, the consultant – you’re all part of an NHS team.’
Workers lobbied Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s annual general meeting in Taunton last Thursday to demand it permanently abandons plans to outsource their jobs.
Porters, housekeepers, maintenance workers, other NHS staff and union representatives gathered outside the trust’s AGM at Somerset County Cricket Club at 3pm.
Hundreds of staff at Musgrove Park Hospital and community hospitals across Somerset were there.
More than 700 staff responded to a Unison survey about the plans, with 98% saying non-clinical services should be provided by workers directly employed by the NHS.
Unison says the trust should use its AGM to give staff certainty and confirm the outsourcing proposals have been abandoned permanently.
The union is also calling for workers at Yeovil District Hospital, who are already employed through Simply Serve, to be brought back into direct NHS employment.
The campaign forms part of Unison’s wider call for outsourced public services to be brought back in-house.
Unison South West regional secretary Tim Roberts said: ‘Hundreds of NHS workers have already told the trust loud and clear that they want these services to stay in the NHS.
‘The decision to pause the plans was welcome, but staff need certainty. They should not have to live with the possibility that outsourcing could simply return at a later date.
‘Porters, housekeepers, maintenance staff and facilities workers are part of the NHS team. They deserve to be employed directly by the NHS alongside the colleagues they work with every day.
‘The trust’s annual meeting is an opportunity for its leaders to listen to staff, abandon these plans for good and start bringing existing outsourced services back into the NHS.’
Meanwhile, three in four (74%) nurses surveyed by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) say they have little or no confidence that the government is taking sufficient measures to reduce the impact of climate change on health and care services.
Just days before the official end of summer, nursing staff report an ‘increase in deaths’ in services and how patients rapidly deteriorated in ‘suffocating atmospheres’, with those suffering from heart failure and respiratory problems among the most vulnerable.
Staff describe cancer patients dripping with sweat during chemotherapy, while others report maggots in wounds and patients with mental ill health worsening under oppressive heat.
Following revelations last month about the impact of extreme heat on nursing staff, the RCN is sharing the findings from a survey of nearly 2,500 nursing staff captured during the recent heatwaves.
It says the work must start now to install cooling systems in all hospitals, care homes and other settings before next summer, which could be even hotter and see more patients come to harm.
The testimony from nursing staff shows that patients and service users were forced to receive care in uncomfortably hot facilities, regularly hitting above 30 degrees. One children’s ward in Yorkshire reached 44 degrees, according to a nurse.
Nursing staff describe the combination of the heat and being cared for in corridors as causing patients to become more unwell after entering hospital. A nurse in the North West described the situation as ‘horrendous’ with patients ‘suffering more from the effects of heat than the actual reason they are in hospital’.
The difficulty of providing care in overheating corridors led to patients frequently fainting when trying to mobilise, while staff also report severe dehydration as patients, particularly older people, struggle to drink enough fluids.
A common theme from the testimony was also the impact on those with heart failure and respiratory conditions. A nurse in the East of England told of ‘patients with heart failure sitting in over 30-degree heat and a new ward with blocked windows.’ A nurse in a hospital in the South East told the RCN of patients with ‘low blood pressure, increased dizziness and breathlessness with heart failure and worsening symptoms’.
Meanwhile, a nurse in Wales said: ‘We had two frail patients for whom the extreme heat directly impacted their deaths. Whilst it was not the only cause – if you are in respiratory failure, the heat is a death sentence.’
Shockingly, temperatures were such a challenge in one London hospital that a nurse reported increased respiratory distress in newborn babies.
The testimony shows nursing staff taking steps to keep patients cool and prevent deterioration.
A nurse at a West Midlands hospital told of an ‘increase in deaths in the last heatwave’ and having to move ‘a patient out of the ward and into resus in the middle of the night to access the air-conditioning’.
One nurse working in a South East NHS hospital said that high temperatures meant ‘wounds heal slower, mobility declines, and the simple act of resting becomes a battle against suffocating heat’.
Another nurse in the South East said: ‘I have actually cried for them (patients). It’s inhumane. I don’t think a veterinary surgery would be allowed to operate under such conditions.’
Some of the most shocking details shared with the RCN include the impact on some of the most vulnerable, including those with mental ill health, cancer and terminal illnesses.
Multiple nurses reported mental health patients becoming more challenging with one in the West Midlands saying it was ‘intolerable’ and that ‘patients were becoming more agitated, aggressive and assaulting staff more.’
A nurse working in an emergency department in a London hospital said: ‘We assess mental health patients in a very small room in ED. This room has no windows and even though the ED is only 2 years old, the air-con is not good enough for this overwhelming heat.
‘We try to assess our patients as quickly as possible so that they can go home, but some patients are too unwell to leave and are forced to stay (sectioned).’
Meanwhile, a nurse treating cancer patients in London said: ‘I’ve seen patients sweating and dripping due to the heat during chemotherapy.
‘There is no air conditioning running in the unit. During one particularly hot period, patients were visibly sweating throughout their treatment. This feels like a safety concern, not just a comfort issue.’
A palliative care nurse working in a South West hospital said ‘we had a palliative patient with chronic ulcers on the ward. In the hospital’s care, during the last heatwave, the wounds festered enough that they attracted flies and were found to have maggots.
‘Some of his and his relative’s last memories will be knowing of and, in his case, feeling maggots in his wounds.’
Staff also report how people in care homes suffered in hot conditions, with ineffective mitigations in place to keep older people and those with long-term conditions safe and comfortable.
The RCN says the ‘clock is now ticking’ to prepare for next year and calls for heat adaptation for health and care services to receive its own ringfenced funding from government at the budget.
The work must start now to ensure effective cooling strategies and facilities are in place across all of health and care in time for when temperatures rise again, the College says.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said: ‘This testimony reveals the devastating impact of extreme heat on patients, with increased deaths, deterioration, and conditions in services which, frankly, are an assault on people’s right to dignified, safe care.
‘We are all aware of the pressures that winter bring, but extreme heat is here to stay, and the clock is now ticking to accelerate investment in hospitals, care homes and other settings to ensure they are prepared.
‘This summer was our warning. By next, we need everywhere to have effective cooling facilities in place, or patients will suffer shocking harm once again.’