A plan to close most of the NHS's blood testing and processing laboratories and lay off hundreds of public service technicians will be announced next month, the Guardian has learned.
Peter Garwood, managing director of the NHS Blood Service, said he was working on a strategy to concentrate laboratory work in three national centres in an attempt to cut costs, modernise equipment and improve patient safety.
Amicus, the union representing NHS technical and scientific staff, threatened strike action last night to halt the reorganisation. It said the closure of up to 14 laboratories could put patients' lives at risk because the NHS would have to rely on charitably funded air ambulances to supply hospitals in an emergency.
The escalation of industrial strife in the health service comes after two one-day strikes last month by Unison, biggest of the public service unions, against the privatisation of the hospital supplier NHS Logistics.
Amicus understands that the service is to be reorganised into three "super centres," in Bristol and at unnamed locations in the south-east and the north.
Kevin Coyne, the union's officer for health, said this put at risk the laboratories in Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, Tooting, Colindale, Brentwood, Oxford and Cambridge.
"The geographical gaps in service will mean delays for the vital testing of blood for many thousands of people, putting lives at risk and making the service dependent in emergencies on the air ambulances charity, as motorways cannot be relied upon," he said.
Mr Garwood said details of closures and job losses could not be disclosed before the modernisation strategy was unveiled next month, but the "direction of travel" was clear. Demand for blood had fallen by about 15% over the past five years and the cost of supplying it safely had increased from £84 to £130 a pint. For a more efficient service, he said, the agency had to move out of 40-year-old laboratories and consolidate testing and processing.
He said the agency would shed about 200 technical and scientific jobs in the south-west, but expected to hire 100 new staff. Job losses in other regions would be comparable, but every attempt would be made to avoid compulsory redundancies. Almost all the 14 existing centres would continue as blood banks supplying local hospitals, he added. Amicus disputed this claim, saying patients needed local laboratories as well as blood banks.
The union said it would ballot its 2,000 members at the agency on strike action, which would be the first industrial action in the blood service. Mr Coyne said: "Modernisation is being rushed through without engagement and consultation. The NHS and the nation has invested millions in training these staff and now proposes to just dispose of them."
