Pay fair for patient care – getting it right for healthcare support staff

Pay fair for patient care

Are you a band 2 healthcare support worker? You may be entitled to better pay. Now’s your time to win it!

You’ve seen your role evolve and expand to take on more responsibilities, often without the pay and recognition to match. While most healthcare support workers are on band 2 pay, many are performing clinical duties and patient observations – tasks which fall under band 3 of the Agenda for Change pay scales.

Table showing personal care vs clinical tasks of healthcare support workers

While personal care remains a fundamental aspect of the healthcare support worker role, some staff are taking on more responsibilities than ever before.

UNISON is proud to be the trade union that represents healthcare support workers and we’re campaigning for the NHS to start getting it right for you.

Healthcare support workers deserve to be:

  • RewardedYou should be paid at the right band for the job and compensated for the work you’ve been doing at band 3.
  • RecognisedWithout you performing these essential clinical duties, the burden would fall on other overworked colleagues and patient care would suffer.
  • RespectedYou should be offered high quality training and career development opportunities to help you build your skills and progress within the NHS.

Healthcare support workers in every part of the country are running local campaigns to get rebanded – and they’re winning!

Thousands of staff have been moved up to band 3 where they rightly belong, and so far they’ve collectively secured over £70 million in back pay for years of underpaid work. It’s not an easy road but the rewards can be huge, and UNISON members have shown that when you work together, you can win.

Check out #PayFairForPatientCare on social media to see members fighting and winning in every region!

Ready to win in UNISON?

This campaign is all about speaking up about the realities of your job and working together to make sure you’re getting paid appropriately for what you do – so it’s vital that everybody gets involved.

  • If you’re being paid at band 2 but taking on regular clinical duties, speak to your band 2 colleagues and your local UNISON branch. You have the right to have your role reviewed and joining forces with your colleagues means you have a more powerful voice with management.
  • Participate in any rebanding campaign activity that takes place in your branch – this could include taking part in the survey, filling out the daily task diary and signing petitions and open letters.
  • Get the support of other colleagues including clinicians – the NHS is one team.
  • Not in UNISON yet? Join today and be part of a powerful campaign in the union that’s getting it right for healthcare support staff. And get your colleagues to join too!

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