A DIRECTOR at one of Britain’s largest NHS trusts suggested workers would be prosecuted for going on strike hours before their three-day walkout, the Morning Star can reveal.

Unite slammed the “bullying tactics” by Barts Health NHS Trust after the email was sent to its members working for the East and South East London Pathology Partnership (ESEL) on Sunday.

Charlotte Mustoe, operations director at ESEL, wrote: “I am aware that HR has advised that staff do not have to inform their managers if they are striking.”

She carried on saying workers could however be prosecuted for breaching a “safe level of service agreement” with unions — “if you do not attend a shift that is critical to patient safety … and your attendance cannot be found cover, then patient safety is at risk and this can lead to prosecution.”

Ms Mustoe said it was no longer the case that there were enough non-union members to cover shifts during strikes, adding: “In this case, we cannot maintain a service and this risks patients’ lives.”

After the strike by ESEL members and other workers at St Bart’s went ahead from Monday to Wednesday this week, Unite regional officer Tabusam Ahmed told the Star: “Unite is not surprised with the bullying tactics.

“We have raised bullying with Bart’s Health a number of times during the industrial action and asked Bart’s to stop using them and start listening to their members, otherwise the dispute will escalate.”

ESEL, hosted by the trust, combines the pathology services of Barts Health, Homerton and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trusts.

It runs laboratories across these hospitals’ sites as well as at Newham, Queen Elizabeth, The Royal London and Whipps Cross hospitals.

The industrial dispute is due to unsafe understaffing and increased workloads, including changes to rosters that would end night-time roles.

One of the striking biomedical scientists told the Morning Star: “Staff are having to go on the stairwells to have lunches because there’s no space. The facilities for staff are appalling.”

He said staff at ESEL’s main pathology building at the Royal London Hospital are also exposed to health-and-safety risks due to there not being enough space for used lab coats, with only two lifts shared with up to 700 people working over its five floors.

A spokesperson for the East and South East London Pathology Partnership said: "Just a few hours before the strike was due to start we did not have confirmation of safe staffing levels in pathology.

"We therefore reminded staff of their professional and legal duty to avoid harm to patients.

"We support colleagues’ right to strike but must maintain patient safety at all times."