Hospital Scan, Lab and Physiotherapy Technicians Will Down Tools on 19 and 20 November, Disputing the Minister's Claim That Their Back Pay Is Settled

The technicians who run X-rays, scans, laboratory analyses, radiotherapy and physiotherapy in Portugal's public health service will strike for two full days, from 00:00 on Thursday 19 November to midnight on Friday 20 November. Patients with tests or treatment booked for those two days may find them postponed, although chemotherapy, radiotherapy and round-the-clock services are covered by minimum services.

The strike was called by the STSS, the Sindicato Nacional dos Técnicos Superiores de Saúde das Áreas de Diagnóstico e Terapêutica (National Union of Senior Health Technicians in the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Areas), which announced the dates in a communiqué on 31 October. On 19 November the technicians will also gather outside the Prime Minister's official residence in Lisbon. On 20 November they join the national public administration strike called by the Frente Comum union front, which we reported last week.

Why they are striking again

This is the union's second national stoppage this autumn, after the 9 October strike over a revised pay table that the STSS refused to sign. According to the strike details carried by Lusa and published by RTP and Notícias ao Minuto on 3 November, the technicians want:

• a revision of the salary table;
• 1.5 points a year under their own performance appraisal system, and payment of the back pay they say they are owed;
• more staff hired;
• all service before they moved into the special career counted, including fixed-term contracts and "falsos recibos verdes" (bogus self-employment), with the same progression rules for staff on private-law and public-law contracts, backdated to 2018.

The union is also disputing a claim by the health minister, Ana Paula Martins, at a parliamentary hearing on 30 October that the counting of points and the payment of back pay had been fully settled. The STSS says this is still unresolved in most Unidades Locais de Saúde (ULS, the local health units that run hospitals and health centres), naming Santo António, Santa Maria, Algarve, Lisboa Ocidental, São José and São João among them. "Saying this matter is fully settled is denying the reality that thousands of professionals face every day," said Luís Dupont, the union's president.

What stays open

Lusa reports that minimum services will cover:

• services that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, staffed as on a Sunday;
• cancer patients whose chemotherapy or radiotherapy began before the strike, and new patients classed at priority level 4;
• surgery scheduled at priority level 3;
• patients on parenteral (intravenous) feeding scheduled before the strike notice;
• urgent cases justified by the prescribing doctor.

What it means for you

If you have a blood test, scan, X-ray or physiotherapy session booked at an SNS hospital or health unit on 19 or 20 November, contact the hospital or health centre beforehand to ask whether it will go ahead and how to rebook if it does not. If you are unsure whether a symptom can wait, the SNS 24 line on 808 24 24 24 gives health advice. Because the Frente Comum strike falls on 20 November too, schools and other public services may also be disrupted that Friday.