A hospital treating coronavirus patients has been accused of showing “zero loyalty” to hundreds of zero-hour contract staff.
A whistleblower has spoken out against Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI), saying it is showing “an attitude of herd immunity” amid the pandemic.
The BRI worker, an NHS-employed zero-hour contract healthcare assistant, said they are having difficulty booking even one six-hour shift a week which would earn them £60.
They also claim that the situation means that contract staff and their families are 'starving'.
They told Bristol Live : “Over many years I have worked very hard and been loyal to the BRI. I have been very, very flexible, working on many wards over many years.
“When it comes to wanting loyalty from the employer, there are zero hours and zero loyalty – it’s a zero-loyalty contract.
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“I’m now getting about £60 a week to live on. I’m probably going to have to sign up for Universal Credit.
“We still have to pay our rent and buy food. What about those who have children to feed?”
The worker believes more than 100 zero-hour contract healthcare assistants and some nurses are in the same situation.
They said the problem began the week before last, when the number of available shifts on the staff’s booking website dropped “almost to zero”.
“The onslaught didn’t happen. Wards were closed, and they were meant to be used by coronavirus patients, but they haven’t ended up being used at all.
“The number of available shifts dropped almost to zero. It just suddenly happened – management didn’t tell us why they were cancelled.
“Nobody knew what was going on. Across a week you can usually see 150 to 200 potential shifts. Now I’m struggling to book one in a week.”
The Trust said it stopped services to prepare for "a large surge" in patients due to Covid-19, which has not been as severe as anticipated.
Its director of people Matt Joint said he appreciates the situation has caused "anxiety" for temporary staff and hopes "to soon reintroduce some of the services" soon.
The whistleblower revealed they are dipping into their savings and getting help from their family to feed themselves.
They added: “This has left the zero-hour staff bank with almost no work or pay, and their families starving.
“They could have furloughed the permanently contracted staff from the closed wards and kept the bank staff covering the shifts that needed covering.”
At least 30,000 NHS workers in the UK are employed on zero-hour contracts, according to GMB Union research from November.
The healthcare assistant also aired concerns over the quality of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the BRI.
“Most of us are wearing flimsy paper face masks like the ones you see people wearing on the street,” they said.
“I don’t feel they are sufficient when patients are coughing and spluttering in front of you.
“There is a higher level of mask, the FFP3, which fits better and has a breathing filter, offering much more protection.
“But unless it’s for a highly invasive procedure, we’re told we only need flimsy face masks.”
The healthcare assistant said they queued for hours in the hospital to be fitted and tested for the FFP3 mask, but they are not getting access to them in their work.
“It feels as there is an attitude of herd immunity, as if we’re all going to get coronavirus,” they added.
“You see people clapping us on the streets each week. I think it’s nice people are appreciating us, but a lot of these people voted in a Government which is failing us. It feels very strange.”
More than 100 NHS and healthcare workers are known to have died with the virus.
We put the whistleblower's concerns to the University Hospitals
Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW), which runs the BRI.Matt Joint said: “Only a few weeks ago, the predictions for the Covid-19 pandemic were that we should expect a large surge in the number of patients.
"In order to prepare for this, and in line with national guidance, it was essential that we temporarily pause some services and non-urgent operations.
"This, unfortunately, meant that we had to reduce the number of temporary staff we needed through Bank working.
“We appreciate this has caused anxiety among our temporary staff due to the lack of availability of shifts.
"Thankfully we have not seen the surge in patients that was anticipated and we hope to soon reintroduce some of the services that have been temporarily paused, which will provide more opportunities for temporary staff to work additional shifts."
He added the trust is "continuing to recruit to a number of permanent roles" and would welcome applications from Bank staff.
