Blood Sciences Industrial Action in East Lancashire

Unite the Union have called upon their members working within the Blood Sciences Department at both Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital and Burnley General Teaching Hospital to take part in industrial action.

The initial strike action will:

• Commence at 00:01 hours on 15 June 2026 and continue each day up to 19 June 2026 when the action will conclude at 23:59 hours 
• Commence at 00:01 hours on 22 June 2026 and continue each day up to 26 June 2026 when the action will conclude at 23:59 hours 
• Commence at 00:01 hours on 29 June 2026 and continue each day up to 3 July 2026 when the action will conclude at 23:59 hours 
• Commence at 00:01 hours on 6 July 2026 and continue each day up to 10 July 2026 when the action will conclude at 23:59 hours.

The second phase of strike action will:

• Commence at 00:01 hours on 13 July 2026 and continue each day up to 17 July 2026 when the action will conclude at 23:59 hours 
• Commence at 00:01 hours on 20 July 2026 and continue each day up to 24 July 2026 when the action will conclude at 23:59 hours 
• Commence at 00:01 hours on 27 July 2026 and continue each day up to 31 July 2026 when the action will conclude at 23:59 hours 
• Commence at 00:01 hours on 3 August 2026 and continue each day up to 7 August 2026 when the action will conclude at 23:59 hours.

In the NHS, a blood sciences department is a hospital laboratory service that analyses blood samples to help diagnose, monitor, and treat patients. It brings together several specialist laboratory disciplines into one coordinated service.
In short, and in this specific situation, a blood sciences department: 

• receives samples from GPs, hospital wards, Emegency Department (A&E), and other clinics
• process thousands of tests each day
• validates and reports results electronically back to clinicians.
   

In East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, around 3,000 blood tests are sent to Blackburn and Burnley’s Blood Science department each day for sampling by GPs. These are then processed at the laboratories and the reports are sent back to GPs.

During this period, there will be limited capacity to process samples from GP practices. 

Currently, only urgent and a limited number of routine blood tests are available to GP practices.
 

Clinicians can still send blood samples through to the laboratory marked as urgent, such as those in relation to cancer or other clinically urgent conditions, or for a limited number of routine blood tests.

This action will primarily affect patients within the East Lancashire footprint, including areas such as Pendle, Hyndburn, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Rossendale and parts of Ribble Valley.

In East Lancashire based hospitals, arrangements are in place to maintain as much urgent activity as possible. A limited number of routine outpatient and domiciliary bloods are available.

The Lancashire and South Cumbria Pathology Service are actively exploring opportunities to support processing, with the intent of returning to 100% capacity over the next few weeks.

We understand that this will be a worrying time for patients within the East Lancashire area and we are doing all that we can to increase capacity up to usual levels as soon as it is possible and safe to do so.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this strike action may cause and are making every effort to prioritise urgent blood samples for patients. 

During this difficult time there will be some disruption to services and we ask that you co-operate with your local GP practice who are trying their best in a difficult situation. 

If your blood test has been postponed, your GP practice will be back in touch to re-arrange once more capacity has become available.  

The dispute relates to the calculation of holiday pay. You may be aware that Agenda for Change contains nationally agreed provisions governing pay and annual leave calculations. Those arrangements are applied consistently across the NHS and are based on nationally agreed methodologies. Discussions are taking place at a national level involving NHS Employers, legal advisers and the Department of Health and Social Care to determine whether a national response is required. Until this guidance is received, we are unable to progress local resolution.