HOSPITAL bosses have become locked in an age war with a group of defiant pensioners who provide a vital North Yorkshire health link, but now say they are being dumped on the scrapheap because they are too old.

A 13-strong faction of drivers who form York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s pathology sample collection service have lodged an appeal against a decision not to retain their services from the start of next year due to their ages.

The group, who ferry samples of blood and other substances from GP surgeries across York, Selby and as far afield as Market Weighton to the hospital’s pathology laboratory in refrigerated vans, believe their health, experience and the trust they have established with doctors over many years means the trust should make an exception to its normal retirement age of 65.

All the protesting drivers, who carried out the daily collection service under the control of St John Ambulance until the trust took it in-house a year ago, exceed that age, with the eldest being 82, but they say this should not be a barrier to them continuing to work beyond next January.

And it comes as the Government has said it will bring forward a review of the retirement age to 2010, while a number of high-profile court cases have recently challenged the rule that a worker’s employment can end at the age of 65 without a redundancy payment, even if they do not want to retire.

Among those taking on the trust is 67-year-old ex-policeman Keith Usher of Sherburn, near Malton, a former secretary and chief executive of York City FC and Pickering Town FC’s current secretary.

Mr Usher, who is acting as the group’s spokesman, said: “We had requested to stay on beyond January and we do not believe our case was heard by the trust. It seemed more like a fait accompli and that the decision had already been taken.

“As far as we are concerned, we have been treated unfairly by this procedure. This is a very important service and we have provided it reliably for many years. The trust even said they were delighted we were staying on when they took the service over last year.

“We are all healthy and dedicated and have a good working relationship with GPs and the pathology department, who know us well. It also seems unfair for us to be employed by the trust as over-65s last year, only to have retirement forced on us a year later.

“Keeping us on is a winning situation for everybody. The trust gets a low-cost service, the surgeries get reliability and we get to keep our jobs, which we value and enjoy.”

The drivers have also written to GP surgeries across the region in a bid to win support for their appeal.


Trust defends its upper working age policy

PETA Hayward, director of human resources at York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our retirement policy has been agreed with our staffside representatives [unions] and reflects national guidelines and legislation relating to retirement age.

“We can’t comment on a specific case which is yet to be fully resolved. However, the trust’s position, clearly outlined in our retirement policy, is that the default retirement age is 65.

“We give fair consideration on a case-by-case basis if staff wish to stay on longer, but this would only be agreed if the post meets certain criteria – for example, if the department has a high number of vacancies or the post is recognised as difficult to recruit to.

“We regularly review our stance on retirement and, more recently, have felt it of increasing importance to ensure, in a competitive job market, that we provide opportunities for those under the national retirement age.”

Gill Clemit, staffside chair at the trust, said: “We have every sympathy with staff who want to continue to work after they reach 65.

“However, this needs to be managed in a consistent way. The trust has mechanisms for keeping its retirement policy under constant review.”