THREATENING letters from a hospital to locked-out scientists could become the norm for industrial relations in a privatised NHS, union Unite warned yesterday.

Seventy-eight biomedical scientists at the Northampton General Hospital were sent “sign or be sacked” letters by the hospital, attempting to force a potential doubling of night shifts and decrease earnings by up to £6,000. 

And they were locked out by bosses after lawfully declaring strike action.

The union warned that lives were being put at risk by the hospital sending blood tests 70 miles away in an attempt to break the strike.

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “The hospital’s sinister attempt to starve its biomedical scientists and support staff back to work must not be allowed to become a template of how NHS trusts treat their staff in an increasingly privatised NHS.

“It is frankly abhorrent that we are having this battle with an NHS trust. How on earth can they claim that patient safety is not at risk when 84 per cent of the hospital’s pathology department have been locked out of the workplace?”