CHRISTINA McANEA: 'Workers at private firms delivering NHS services rarely get a good deal'

Since Labour came to power, things are looking up for the NHS. We’ve seen record investment and waiting times falling.

But this progress risks being derailed. The government plans to transfer thousands of low-paid health workers out of the NHS. Ministers are allowing hospital bosses to set up their own companies to save cash.

Before the election, Labour promised to bring workers on private contracts back into public services. But in power, ministers are doing the opposite. Plans to create a company in Dorset are underway. But more than a thousand cleaners, porters and caterers at local hospitals say they want to stay in the NHS.

Hospital managers have said there’ll be no impact on patients. Nor on staff pay, pensions or jobs. But Unison thinks otherwise. Ten years ago, Tory ministers had the same terrible idea. Health workers didn’t like it then. And they don’t like it now.

The NHS needs help to get back on its feet, recover from the pandemic and years of Tory underfunding. No one should be making a profit from running public services. Workers at private firms delivering NHS services rarely get a good deal.

I recently met a group of cleaners from east Lancashire working for contracting giant Mitie in health centres. The company regularly gets their pay wrong. The cleaners often receive less than they should, leaving them struggling.

To make matters worse, Mitie refuses to pay staff bonuses given to other NHS workers during Covid. So far, the cleaners have taken eight days of strike action. But the firm still refuses to act.

One in five payslips is incorrect. That’s unacceptable. Company execs would be fuming if their wages were regularly wrong and they were denied bonuses.

The staff take real pride in their jobs. But what really grates is that last year Mitie boss Phil Bentley took home £14.7m. And the firm’s profits were £234m. Unison’s calculated that giving staff the £1,655 Covid bonus would cost Mitie £70,000. Mr Bentley earns that in just ten hours.

Neighbourhood health centres, like the ones the Mitie workers clean will be at the heart of the government’s ten-year plan. This promises a revitalised NHS that works for patients. The plans mustn’t be blown off course by unnecessary and unpopular privatisation, which doesn’t work.

Finally, this week I went to Gloucester in a shower of rain to meet phlebotomists who’ve been on strike for 121 days. These dedicated staff specialise in taking blood from patients and want to be paid fairly. But bosses won’t budge. Other hospitals have paid up.

It’s time NHS managers in Gloucester did the same.

Millions to benefit from workers' rights reforms

Millions of workers will soon benefit from what’s in the employment rights bill.

It will stop people on zero-hours contracts being exploited, give workers sick pay as soon as they’re poorly and make it harder for bad bosses to sack staff.

This is the biggest set of workplace changes in a generation. But lots of people don’t know much about it. The government should be shouting it from the rooftops.

Filming of frontline workers for clicks has to stop

Working on the front line is tough. The likes of paramedics, police officers and firefighters see and deal with horrendous things all the time. They deserve our thanks and respect. What they don’t need is people making life tougher for them. But that’s what’s happening.

Research from my union Unison found that one in seven health workers had experienced unwanted filming or photography in the past year. Staff being filmed as they treat heart attack victims. With the footage being livestreamed or put on platforms like TikTok.

Someone filmed a car crash with seriously injured people. They refused to stop and had to be escorted away by the police. This ghoulish filming for clicks has to stop.
Let our dedicated public servants do their jobs. Put the phone away.

READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster