15 September 2006
The NHS will not be greatly affected by strike action planned at NHS Logistics, the Department of Health insisted this week.
With Unison due to announce strike dates on September 15, a war of words broke out between the two camps over the effects of industrial action in the supplies delivery arm of the NHS.
Almost 75% of Unison members voted in favour of action over the department's plans to outsource NHS Logistics and parts of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency to delivery firm DHL. Around 1,700 NHS staff will transfer to the firm.
The union's general secretary Dave Prentis predicted hospitals would soon run out of basic supplies, such as latex gloves.
'If DHL take over the contract, it will turn the clock back 20 years. Hospitals will need huge storage areas to cope with bulk buying. Wards can order one packet of cornflakes if that's what they want. Under DHL, they will have to order packs of 14 boxes and hospitals will have to find space to store them.' He added: 'The buy-it-cheap-and-pile-it-high ethos will mean extra work unpacking and storing for busy nursing and ward staff.'
However, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt defended the DHL deal. 'With this new management we are going to save the NHS £1bn over ten years,' she said.
The strike's effect would be limited because NHS Logistics supplies only around 51,000 of the 500,000 products ordered by health service organisations. Most hospitals have separate deals with commercial suppliers, she said.
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