Neil Guckian says pay deal for workers crucial with Western Trust ‘haemorrhaging staff’ to Donegal and Sligo

The Western Trust Chief Executive said he hoped industrial action could be avoided as this would ‘pull our services down during the winter’.

"We cannot allow ourselves to get into that position,” he told the Stormont Health Committee on Thursday.

Mr. Guckian addressed the issue of workers’ pay after Health Minister Mike Nesbitt’s announcement earlier this month that he would not be in a position to deliver the pay settlements trade unions are demanding for 2024/25.

Unison, Unite, NIPSA and the Royal College of Nurses (RCN) are campaigning for improved pay for the 2024/25 financial year, after a 5.5 per cent increase was awarded to members in Britain.

The Western Trust boss said: “I can't overstate the importance of the pay award. We are working in an incredibly competitive working place. We have an opportunity for this to be the first year since 2018 where we could have a winter without either industrial action or a pandemic and we are on the cusp of that so I would really ask everyone to use all their efforts.

“I would also ask the question whether is it just health. And I'm an advocate for health and I work in health. Is it just health workers who aren't getting their pay rise this year? Or is this public sector wide?”

Mr. Guckian warned the Western Trust was ‘haemorrhaging staff’ across the border.

"The Republic of Ireland are paying significantly more than Northern Ireland for health and social care workers. I provide services on the border so I have doctors who can actually live in Derry and provide a rota in Letterkenny. Likewise, Enniskillen with Sligo.

"We are haemorrhaging staff to across the border in terms of pharmacy, allied health professionals and social workers.

"So without regular pay awards - and these pay awards are not really keeping pace with inflation - we really cannot overstate the importance of the pay award, and likewise, industrial action will pull our services down during the winter. We cannot allow ourselves to get into that position,” he told MLAs.

Further negotiations between the unions, employers and Department of Health are scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Thousands expected to take part in one of biggest strikes ever witnessed in Derry