STRIKING hospital staff marched through Colchester in Essex on Saturday against plans to outsource their jobs to the private sector.

The plans by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) target NHS porters, cleaners, housekeepers and other hospital support staff. 

The workers are members of public-sector union Unison, which says leaked documents show the trust believes it is “too compassionate” an employer and that NHS sick pay provisions “encourage poor behaviours.”