Oswestry hospital staff warned pay could be docked over breaks
Staff at one of Shropshire's hospitals have been told to cut out unofficial breaks – or face having their pay docked.
Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital at Gobowen is clamping down on break times after complaints that some staff were taking more breaks than others. Any breaks taken by staff other than the official 20-minute break required by law will see individual employees pay out of their own pocket.
Aaron Jones, Unison branch secretary at the hospital, said the move was unfair to staff who already feel overworked.
But Ruth Tyrrell, associate director for human resources at Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said many members of staff have been pleased by the move.
She said: "We are not stopping staff taking a break. We are just ensuring that in the few areas where additional breaks are being taken, these are not paid."
