WORKERS at Cheswold Park medium secure mental health hospital in Doncaster are to strike for six days over the next three weeks, Unite said today.

The 120 workers were employed by private health provider Riverside until October 2024, when they were transferred to the NHS.

However, South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust giving the workers NHS contracts for over a year and is now refusing to backdate their new pay and terms and conditions to the date of transfer, said Unite.

The trust said that it had committed to transfer staff onto Agenda for Change (AFC) terms and conditions in 2027, then offered to do so from November 1. 

“We are very disappointed that, despite stabilising the hospital, improving the quality of the services and progressing towards financial stability, as well as bringing forward the introduction of AfC terms and conditions, a number of non-medical staff have decided to take industrial action,” it added.