By Charlotte Webster-
The doctors who represent the British Medical Association on the local negotiating committee are supporting a GMB protest to be staged outside the hospital on Monday.
The workers are in dispute with their employers, outsourcing giant G4S, due to them being deprived of sick pay. Workers who have needed to self isolate after contracting Covid-19 claim to have been forced to work despite the health risk they pose to others, and simply cannot afford not to be paid.
Concerned workers have written to the chief executive of Croydon University Hospital to appeal for him to directly intervene, but no response have been forthcoming yet.
Many of the staff are said to be on very low wages and feel forced to come into the hospital when they have symptoms of the potentially deadly virus because they cannot afford to take time off to self-isolate.
The news that hospital staff are forcing ill patients to work has shocked many people, and reinforced the belief that hospital bosses never took covid-19 seriously in the first instance.
The Eye Of Media.Com has heard that bosses have been holding unto the new laws that have reduced the mandatory period for self isolation from 10 days to 5 days, and have been demanding workers to return to work after 5 days of self-isolation, and in some cases, denying them self isolation altogether, by refusing them seek pay.
Helen O’Connor, GMB union organizer, said: “Our members have seen the letter the doctors have written to Croydon NHS on their behalf and they are delighted with it.
“These doctors recognize porters and domestic staff are vital to the running of the hospital.
“These workers want to be part of the NHS family and they want the other staff in the hospital to know how unfairly they are being treated and to support them in this dispute.
“GMB welcomes their intervention we hope that the trust will listen to these highly experienced clinicians and pay our members fairly.”