![\"Kelly](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258669941.jpg\")
Kelly Carter accused NHS management of \u2018gaslighting\u2019 the phlebotomists at the trust\u2019s monthly board meeting on Friday (Photo: Tom Pilston)<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tA group of phlebotomists has been dubbed ‘The Magnificent Thirty-Seven’ after refusing to back down in the increasingly bitter stand-off with management at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
An NHS trust stands accused of treating some of its lowest paid staff with contempt after denying them an extra \u00a31 per hour in line with neighbouring hospitals.<\/p>\n
A group of phlebotomists has been dubbed \u201cThe Magnificent Thirty-Seven\u201d after refusing to back down in the increasingly bitter stand-off with management at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital.<\/p>\n
The phlebotomists, healthcare professionals who take blood samples from patients to quickly diagnose diseases and conditions, have pent 107 days on strike making the industrial dispute one of the longest in NHS history.<\/p>\n
The row centres around whether a national campaign to move healthcare support workers from band 2 to band 3 on the NHS pay scale should include phlebotomists. The Gloucestershire phlebotomists are currently band 2 and paid up to \u00a312.51 an hour \u2013 30p above the national minimum wage.<\/p>\n
They argue that their knowledge, skills and training equate to those of a band 3 worker whose top tier is \u00a313.60 \u2013 a \u00a31.09 difference. The phlebotomists want to be regraded and given back pay to cover the extra duties they have been doing for years.<\/p>\n
\u2018We want recognition\u2019<\/p>\n
Caroline Hayhurst, a former paramedic of 30 years who has been a phlebotomist at the trust for the last 10 years, said: \u201cThere are a number of trusts where staff are band 2 and the phlebotomy role does vary from trust to trust, but a lot of people are band 3 already and a lot of trusts have moved staff to band 3 on the back of our dispute. We know our skills align with band 3 and we want recognition of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cOurs is a very modest and justifiable claim. The patients are the ones that are inconvenienced the most yet they are telling us to stand our ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
The phlebotomists first raised concerns over their pay in February 2024 and submitted a formal complaint last September. Since then, they have accused the trust of ignoring a fair job-evaluation process and of attempting to avoid its obligation to properly assess their skills and responsibilities. The trust refutes the allegations.<\/p>\n
The i Paper joined the phlebotomists as they attended the trust\u2019s monthly public board meeting last Friday before returning to the picket line. After laying out the group\u2019s concerns again, and to cheers from her colleagues, phlebotomist Kelly Carter asked the board: \u201cWhy are you continuously delaying, moving the goalposts and gaslighting us?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelly Carter accused NHS management of \u2018gaslighting\u2019 the phlebotomists at the trust\u2019s monthly board meeting on Friday (Photo: Tom Pilston)<\/p>\n
The trust promised a job evaluation panel meeting will finally take place on 17 July when a decision will be made. After being told \u201cthe process remains ongoing\u201d any further questions from the phlebotomists were shut down by the chair.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the picket line following the meeting, Carter said: \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to know that the trust has been blocking us. If we\u2019d have had this meeting months ago we could have been back at work by now. It doesn\u2019t feel like they\u2019re thinking about the patients and we really want to get back and see them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not asking for extra money \u2013 we\u2019re asking them to look at our pay grade as we\u2019re deserving of band 3. I came to this department to join this team. I used to be a receptionist and used to hear them all in their room and just wanted to be with them. We\u2019ve been together so long and are so close that nothing is going to break us now. It\u2019s gone past money, we\u2019re fighting for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayhurst has acknowledged that some trusts continue to pay their phlebotomists on a band 2 rating, but points out that when the issue has been raised elsewhere, such as at the neighbouring Royal University Hospitals in Bath, as well as at trusts in Bristol, Dorset and Salisbury, managers have re-banded the role without the need for phlebotomists to resort to industrial action.<\/p>\n
\u2018They want to save face\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s a principle now and they\u2019re not willing to back down,\u201d said Kelvin Willsher, 56, the sole man among The Magnificent Thirty-Seven. \u201cOr, in my view, they\u2019ve gone this far that they\u2019re trying now to save face [by holding the evaluation panel]. I don\u2019t know how they can live with themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the phlebotomists have had to take time off work due to the stress of the situation, Willsher said. \u201cManagement say that they care, but the proof\u2019s in the pudding. They don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n
During their strike, the Gloucestershire phlebotomists\u2019 work is being covered by band 4 and 5 nurses, which the phlebotomists argue supports their argument of it being a higher skilled role than band 2. <\/p>\n
They are being supported by Unison as part of its pay fair for patient care campaign<\/a>. Since 2021, more than 40,000 healthcare workers have received around \u00a3162m in back pay and more than \u00a364m in salary increases as part of the union\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n Asked if they are prepared to strike indefinitely to achieve their aim, Hayhurst said: \u201cAbsolutely. This is more than just about money. This is about being valued in the role we perform, and it\u2019s about future generations who want to stay in this job. Never before has there been such pressure on this, and to potentially throw our skills on the scrapheap and go and get a job in a factory because it pays more. Goodwill has run out.\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin McNamara, chief executive of Gloucestershire Hospitals, has said he is \u201ckeen to stick within the national framework\u201d so there is \u201cfairness and consistency across the whole of the NHS\u201d. He said the national campaign to move healthcare support workers from band 2 to band 3 did not include phlebotomists.<\/p>\n![\"Kelvin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258670054.jpg\")
Kelvin Willsher said some of the phlebotomists have had to take time off work due to the stress of the situation since it began last February (Photo: Tom Pilston)<\/p>\n