Nurses to appeal against contract changes - union

A number of intensive care nurses at a hospital in Nottinghamshire are appealing against changes to their contracts, a union has said.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) NHS Foundation Trust proposed for ICU nurses at the hospital in Worksop to work eight weeks each year at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

Strikes were held against the proposed changes, however the trust has now begun to issue nurses with notices of the termination of their current contracts, with an offer of re-employment under new contracts.

The trust said it believed its offer was "practical, supportive, and focused on enabling our teams to continue delivering the safest, highest-quality care".

Trust leaders previously said Bassetlaw Hospital served a much smaller population than Doncaster Royal Infirmary, which meant it saw fewer severely ill patients that ICU nurses needed regular hands-on experience with.

The union argued the move left nurses with "unsustainable" commute times before and after 13-hour shifts, with the risk of exhaustion.

Now, Unite has warned of "escalated" industrial action in response.

In a letter sent to ICU nurses three days before Christmas, seen by the BBC, the trust said current contracts would be terminated on 16 March 2026, with the new contracts starting on 17 March.

It added nurses would not lose their period of continuous employment with the trust.

Any nurses wishing to appeal against the changes will have to do so by 4 January.

Chris Rawlinson, regional officer for Unite, said: "We've already got nurses who are looking elsewhere for jobs because it's simply not workable what the trust is proposing."

He added a number of nurses were appealing against the contract terminations.

"All the nurses want to do is what they've done for decades. We've got nurses that have been intensive care for 30 years which is to carry on providing excellent treatment to their patients.

"I think the trust is really potentially going to lose a lot of valuable expensive and skill by forcing these changes on the nurses," Mr Rawlinson said.

The union also said the nurses fear the rotation would lead to Bassetlaw Hospital losing its ICU permanently.

Karen Jessop, Chief Nurse at DBTH, said: "Our priority is patient safety, and that means ensuring our highly skilled ICU nurses maintain the level of competency critically ill patients rightly expect.

"Bassetlaw Hospital sees fewer very sick patients, and a short-term rotation with Doncaster is the safest and most effective way to keep those specialist skills up-to-date.

"We have worked closely with colleagues and unions, and we believe our offer is practical, supportive, and focused on enabling our teams to continue delivering the safest, highest-quality care."

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