A MAJOR NHS trust has declared a critical incident ahead of three days of strikes, despite union members agreeing to provide Christmas Day-level cover during the action.

More than 350 workers at Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and Fairfield Hospital in Bury were due to walk out today, Wednesday and Friday in a dispute over pay for covering staff shortages.

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) claimed on Sunday that declaring a critical incident would help it get extra support to keep urgent surgery running.

But Unison north-west regional organiser Kevin Dolan said today: “Unison gave the required notice ahead of industrial action and agreed Christmas Day-level cover throughout the strikes. Any failure to plan safely for the action lies solely with the trust.

“The union’s always willing to negotiate. It was NCA that walked away from talks and hasn’t indicated any intention of returning.” 

Christmas Day cover in the NHS mirrors public holiday staffing, where hospitals run with enough staff for emergency and critical care services while routine and non-urgent appointments, elective care and outpatient services are paused or postponed.

The row centres on the trust’s use of an outside agency, NHS Professionals (NHSP), to manage overtime.

When covering staff shortages, staff are entitled to time-and-a-half pay. However, in some cases, staff earn less than they would on a normal shift, with some missing out on more than £80 per shift, the union said.

Mr Dolan added: “Striking is always the absolute last resort. The trust left its theatre staff with no other choice but to walk out with its refusal to pay them what they’re due when covering staff shortages.   

“Staffing levels are a well-established problem across the NHS, but NCA appears comfortable to rely on staff doing additional shifts at lower rates of pay.  

“This dispute isn’t about staff seeking special treatment, it’s about NCA refusing to honour the overtime rates they should be paid. 

“NCA bosses are well aware of this and know strikes could have been prevented by simply paying staff what they’re due. 

“They’ve failed to do the right thing, leaving patients and staff to face the consequences for their bad decisions.”

The trust was contacted for comment.