SPECIALIST NHS staff in Greater Manchester are set to relaunch strike action in a six-month dispute over lack of funding and understaffing.

The 40 health workers from the Manchester Early Intervention in Psychosis Team, who treat people with early signs of the condition which can involve delusions, hallucinations and loss of touch with reality, are members of unions Unison and Unite and will strike from Monday to Friday.

They include nurses, psychologists, social workers, support workers, welfare rights workers, therapists and employment specialists.

The strike will be the third in the dispute. A two-day strike was staged in November followed by a three-day strike in December.

Unison representative Dr John Mulligan said that more than £1 million in central government funding for the service had been reallocated to other areas.

“When this injustice was brought to the attention of local commissioners by NHS England in 2020, we expected them to pay for the 40-50 extra staff they’d been short-changing us with for years,” Dr Mulligan said.

“Unfortunately, no money came our way — then, or since.”

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust was invited to comment.