Dozens of staff at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are set to stage further strike action throughout November

Workers in the blood sciences department at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are set to stage further strike action throughout November as a long-running dispute over pay remains unresolved.

Dozens of staff are due to take part in four further weeks of industrial action after Unite said the Trust had failed to address problems involving holiday pay, overtime and absence payments.

The latest action will take place from November 2-6, 9-13, 16-20 and 23-27, extending a dispute which the union says has already continued for months.

Unite claims workers have been missing out on payments they are owed, while accusing Trust management of failing to engage meaningfully in attempts to reach a settlement.

The dispute centres on staff working at Burnley General Teaching Hospital and the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, although they are employed by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust rather than East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which operates the two hospitals.

The industrial action began in June and has been extended several times, with the row originally concerning the calculation of holiday pay for staff working different shifts.

Previous reporting by the Burnley Express revealed how the dispute had escalated, with an agreement allowing some striking workers to continue providing essential blood-testing services breaking down in August.

The withdrawal of those arrangements meant Unite members were no longer providing laboratory cover for a range of urgent services, including emergency care, blood transfusions, surgery, cancer treatment and maternity services.

The action has previously caused significant disruption to blood-testing services across East Lancashire, with the union warning of delays to both routine and urgent tests.

In September, the dispute appeared to be becoming increasingly entrenched after the Trust said it had received advice from NHS England and NHS Employers suggesting its approach to holiday pay calculations was correct.

The Trust said it was confident there was no detriment to employees' pay and expressed disappointment that industrial action was continuing, given the impact on patients and services.

It also said it was working with NHS partners and external providers to maximise testing capacity and minimise disruption.

Unite now claims the Trust has spent more than £1m on outsourcing work to cover the duties of striking staff, equivalent to around £60,000 a week.

The union has accused management of refusing to take part in arbitration and of reneging on an agreement to make a settlement offer before communication stopped.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "This Trust has long-running issues with their industrial relations and we are seeing first-hand the disregard with which they treat vital, skilled workers.

"Rather than making real efforts to resolve this dispute, the Trust management are breaking yet more promises and wasting thousands of pounds of public funds trying to undermine it. Unite will not stand for such behaviour."

Regional officer Helen Flanagan said: "Unite have been clear that this is a local dispute, but the Trust have prolonged the action for months focussing on nationally used NHS systems rather than the real issues at hand.

"It seems that only Unite are serious about seeking a negotiated settlement to ending the dispute, which is now solely in the hands of decision makers at the Trust."

A spokesperson for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it remained committed to finding a resolution and had engaged constructively throughout discussions with Unite.

The Trust said: "Whilst we would always prefer to keep funding within the NHS, the Unite action has left us with no choice but to outsource work to external providers as well as other NHS partners to maximise testing capacity and minimise disruption.

"This is an expensive solution, but they are providing high quality support and our focus must remain on maintaining safe services for patients.

"We will continue to seek a resolution to the dispute."