MORE than 1,000 healthcare support workers at Swansea Bay University Health Board are set to receive long-overdue back pay following a two-year campaign.

Staff had been paid at the wrong grade for their increasingly complex roles, their union Unison Cymru said, carrying out clinical duties such as patient observations, blood monitoring and electrocardiogram tests. 

The union said workers had been told plans to pay them before Christmas were on hold, but after they delivered a 2,000-signature petition of protest, the board confirmed the payments will go ahead.

Neath Port Talbot Hospital worker Hollie Arnold said: “This is an absolute win for the hard-working healthcare support workers who have for too long gone above and beyond, delivering high-class care and being underpaid for it.”

The health board said in a statement: “We fully acknowledge, and apologise, for the distress caused by our decision last month to pause the implementation of the agreement.

“This was never our intention - we wanted to ensure that our local agreement was in parity with their colleagues across the rest of NHS Wales.”