NHS staff prepare for new walk-out in pay freeze row

The action is over the Government’s decision to reject a recommendation staff should receive a one per cent pay rise and instead impose a pay freeze.

Strike action will be held by staff including nurses, midwives, porters, and dieticians for four hours from 7am-11am on Monday and from 8am until noon by radiographers.

Some hospitals are cancelling routine appointments but emergency services are expected to face less disruption.

The walk-out is the second following another last month.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service said its 999 operation would continue but at a reduced level and there could be delays getting to calls, with serious of life-threatening calls prioritised.

Its interim executive director of operations, David Macklin, said: “We will be carrying out additional clinical assessment over the telephone using doctors and senior clinicians in our 999 emergency operations centres to prioritise those most in need.”

Routine transport services for patients attending hospital appointments were being cancelled but would continue for people with urgent medical needs.

Neil Clark, director of operations at the Wakefield-based Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are working hard to put in place a number of plans to keep disruption to an absolute minimum and ensure we provide the very best possible care for our patients during this time.

“We have cancelled a number of non-urgent appointments and procedures, but we have tried to keep these to a minimum.”

Wendy Booth, of the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS trust, said: “Patients who do not hear from us and have appointments for that day should attend as usual.”

GMB national officer Rehana Azam said: “We regret having to inconvenience NHS users again, but the intransigence of the government and employers leaves us no choice.

“Health workers have already endured several years of pay freezes and caps. They are understandably angry and frustrated at the cavalier way they have been treated.”

Richard Evans, chief executive officer of the Society of Radiographers, said: “The anger that they and other NHS workers feel is very strong.”