SECURITY staff at Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Hospital have voted to strike in protest at low pay. The security guards are currently employed by private contractor Engie Services Ltd, within East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, and say that in some cases they are paid as little as £8.72 an hour, with under-25s earning even less. The staff say that they could be losing out by as much as £6,000 a year compared to colleagues directly employed by the NHS, despite the tough conditions they are expected to face. A former hospital worker said: “I used to work at the hospitals on the wards, I have seen the hard work they do.
Accrington Victoria Hospital THE minor injuries unit at Accrington Victoria Community Hospital will re-open later this month. The services were suspended in January by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust as the number of inpatients fighting Coronavirus soared to an all time peak. The Trust implemented surge plans to cope with demand and redeployed staff from Accrington to care for people in other settings. Trust bosses said that although demand for services remained high and it continued to treat around 250 inpatients infected with the virus each day, it would reopen the unit on February 22. Sharon Gilligan, Chief Operating Officer at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We suspended minor injuries at Accrington Victoria in January when we were caring for a very high number of inpatients with Covid and really struggling to find enough staff to safely look after them. Staffing remains fragile for us at both Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital and Burnley General