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Northampton hospital bosses lock out staff

SHAMELESS hospital bosses in Northampton locked out vital staff responsible for analysing blood samples for a fifth time yesterday.

The 78 biomedical scientists at Northampton General Hospital are in dispute over new contracts which will leave them worse off with changes to their terms and conditions, including pay cuts of up to £6,000 a year, and introduction of more night shifts.

Their union Unite accused managers of “playing Russian Roulette” with patient safety as they struggle to carry out the work themselves.

The staff voted for industrial action short of a strike and refused to sign the contracts.

Management banned them from the workplace last week Thursday. They face the sack later this week when their contracts run out.

Unite warned that patients were facing delays of more than six hours for blood test results.  

The union’s regional officer Mick Orpin said: “The people of Northampton deserve answers. The managers at Northampton General Hospital are acting dangerously and recklessly by denying patients the skill and expertise of professional biomedical scientists. It is playing Russian roulette with patient safety.

“It beggars belief that an NHS trust could be guilty of such a disgraceful abuse of power. It’s the first time in living memory that NHS workers have been banned from entering the workplace for exercising their legal right to take action.

“Unite has no doubt that the trust’s aim all along has been to break our members and deny them a fair chance to have their concerns heard. We are shocked at the viciousness and heavy-handedness of the attack on our members.”

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