MERSEYSIDE NHS staff who were sacked because they could not make an 80-mile round trip to new jobs have won redundancy payments after a campaign by their trade union.

More than 50 long-serving staff employed by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust lost their jobs when Calderstones Hospital at Whalley, near Blackburn, was closed.

The Trust proposed alternative jobs at Aspen Wood which is part of Broadgreen Hospital, which is 40 miles away.

Those unable to travel, or who refused unsuitable alternative jobs, were sacked without redundancy pay.

GMB fought the decision and the trust has now agreed to pay them redundancy.

GMB regional organiser Michael Clark said: “Loyal workers with decades of service are now being treated with the dignity they deserve after years of service to Mersey Care and the NHS.

“Mersey Care’s insistence on an average 80-mile commute per shift was unreasonable.”

He said the result was “fantastic” for the union and its members.

A Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said that “despite best efforts to retain employment” 118 staff were being made redundant, and that each case had been considered individually.