English NHS hospitals face supplies strike

LONDON, Sep 15 (Reuters) National Health Service workers will stage two 24-hour strikes over the next two weeks which could seriously disrupt medical and food supplies to hospitals across England.

Public service union Unison said today the first walkout at five NHS Logistics depots would start on September 21 after staff voted to strike last week.

The action is in protest against plans to outsource the medical supplies service to German-owned courier company DHL and American healthcare contractor Novation.

''There can be absolutely no justification for privatising this service,'' said Unison Head of Health Karen Jennings.

Unison said it would announce the date of the second strike next week, with further unspecified industrial action following at a later date.

Around 1,650 staff from NHS Logistics and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) are due to be transferred to DHL, a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Post , on October 1 under a overnment plan unveiled earlier this month.

NHS Logistics was established in 2000 to source and deliver products ranging from food to bedding and medical equipment to hospitals, doctors' surgeries and other NHS organisations.

The government acknowledges the service has been a success, but says the NHS will save 1 billion pounds under a 10-year contract with DHL by expanding the range of products supplied.

The DHL contract will cover around half a million different products, including catering supplies, stationery, bed linen and medical supplies worth some 3.7 billion pounds a year.

NHS Logistics and PASA only supply around 51,000 products and account for just 1.1 billion pounds of NHS services spending.

Unison said NHS Logistics had a ''fantastic track record on innovation and wards for efficiency.'' The Department of Health said the one-day strike would not cause significant disruption and that it had contingency plans in place.

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