MORE than 400 NHS hospital staff on Merseyside have voted for strikes over pay, their union Unison warned today.

An overwhelming majority of clinical support workers across the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTH) backed action in the recent poll, with walkouts now “imminent” unless bosses act, it said.

The health service stipules that workers on a low-pay band should only be undertaking personal care such as supporting patients with going to the toilet, bathing and feeding.

But a union survey found that most clinical support workers are routinely undertaking other tasks like taking and monitoring blood, electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas.

All these duties should be paid according to at least a band three salary, which is nearly £2,000 a year higher, Unison argued.

A total of seven health trusts across north-west England have now moved low-paid staff onto the higher rate, but WUTH has “refused to draw up a similar agreement, despite a collective grievance signed by over 400 staff,” according to the union.

Deborah, a clinical support worker at Arrowe Park Hospital, told the union that staff feel “taken for granted.”

She added: “It looks like WUTH will be the first trust in the country where it will take strike action to resolve this issue – it shouldn’t have come to this.”

A trust spokesperson told the Morning Star that the staff are a “vital part of our workforce.”

“We are listening to them, and it is our position that they should be paid the right banding for the work we are asking them to do,” they said.

“We will be continuing the work to deliver our pledge. We do not yet have dates of any strike action but we will be doing everything we can to minimise [the] impact on patients.”