Bassetlaw Hospital (UNITE) Strike Calendar

Intensive care nurses at Bassetlaw hospital will strike tomorrow over fire and rehire contract changes that will force them to rotate between Bassetlaw and Doncaster Royal Infirmary. The nurses fear the transfers are one more step towards Bassetlaw hospital losing its ICU permanently through ‘decommissioning by stealth’.

Unite is considering legal challenges to Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust should it proceed with its plans to terminate the nurses’ current contracts and rehire them on new ones. The trust claims the rotation plans are to increase the nurses’ exposure to level three patients (those who are ventilated or have multiple organ failure). The Trust’s proposal, however, would not guarantee increased exposure to Level 3 patients. Unite believes the real reason behind the plans is to run down Bassetlaw’s ICU services. The nurses began action short of strike action through a ban on working on any ward or unit other than Bassetlaw ICU on 13 November.