Healthcare workers walk out on 24-hour strike

Healthcare workers have gone on strike in protest at workloads and staffing issues.

Staff from the HCRG Care Group in Bath, Chippenham and Swindon who are members of Unison walked out at 08:00 BST on Wednesday until 08:00 on Thursday. Patients have been told to go to appointments.

Joanne Hateley, clinical advisor and ex-nurse, was on a picket line. "I go home and I just cry some nights," she said, because "I don't feel as though I'm making a difference any more".

Ahead of the walkout, Unison ran a ballot with 85% of members voting for strike action. An HCRG Care Group spokesperson said "robust contingency plans" were in place and they recognised "the challenges colleagues have experienced".

The HCRG Care Group is a major private provider of community health and social care services and partners with the NHS and local authorities across England.

It provides community health services, urgent care, sexual health, and wellbeing support.

Picket lines took place at the Orbital in Swindon, Chippenham Community Hospital in Wiltshire and St Martin's Hospital in Bath.

Patients have been told to go to appointments as normal during the strike action.

Many of the healthcare workers told the BBC that when a Single Point of Access (SPA) system - a single phone number for all HCRG services - was introduced in April, it caused difficulties.

On the picket line in Chippenham, Lou Wilson said she had recently left her HCRG role as the pressure had become too much.

She said there had been "no structure" since the SPA was brought in.

"It's been really difficult," she said. "We just want to help the patients at the end of the day.

"We've lost a lot of staff who have not been replaced and the workload fell on the remaining staff," she said.

Beverly Batt, senior community health navigator, said things were not "being followed up", which created "stress" for staff and "concern" for patients.

"Lots of people have gone out long-term sick," she added. "And a lot of people have put in their notice because they can't deal with it any more."

Sam McKechnie, occupational therapist, handed her notice in the day before the strike.

"It's been six months of very difficult decisions and yesterday was the final straw," she said.

She also said the SPA system had caused issues for staff and patients alike.

"It gets embarrassing because as soon as you answer the phone you can see they have been on hold for 23 minutes, these are critically ill people who need help.

"The lack of staff in our team alone is getting desperate."

HCRG Care Group, previously known as Virgin Care, provides community health and social care services across Bath and North East Somerset (Banes), Swindon and Wiltshire.

The HCRG Care Group spokesperson said clinical care had not been disrupted during the strike and that work was ongoing to improve staffing levels.

They said: "We recognise the challenges colleagues have experienced since the introduction of the SPA service and appreciate how hard they have worked to establish it and improve its performance in a relatively short time.

"We have made significant improvements in response to their feedback and remain committed to constructive discussions with staff representatives.

"Our priority throughout is straightforward: patient care comes first."

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