140 Epsom and St Helier non-emergency patient transfer staff will receive a pay increase in line with the real living wage of £10.75 an hour.
Due to many workers being outsourced by several contractors, employees are currently on different contracts with the majority of employees receiving the London minimum wage of £8.20 to £8.72 per hour.
Following negotiations with Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust and trade union GMB, the non-emergency patient transfer staff contracts will now be streamlined, and any increase to the real living wage will be reflected in their pay year-on-year.
Employees will also see the pay increase backdated to July 2019.
Daniel Hogg, a representative at GMB, said: “This pay rise was long overdue and Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust has done the right thing in increasing our wages. We have been working hard to support hospital patients throughout this pandemic.
“I am now hopeful GMB union can build positive, effective industrial relations with management in the trust.”
A spokesperson at Epson and St Helier NHS Trust said: “We wanted to improve the patient transport delivered to our patients and decided to bring this service in-house. This has enabled us to work in partnership with staff and unions to improve and invest in this important service, the vehicles and the staff.
“In under two years we have invested £2 million. This has meant we have been able to replace old ambulances and now have a fleet of 56 new highly equipped vehicles and we have increased our full time staff by 70 and improved the pay to the London living wage. We are committed to making sure that we support our staff to provide our patients with the best service possible.”