Striking hospital staff to march over jobs row

The latest strike action will impact Colchester Hospital and several community sites ran by ESNEFT

Hospital cleaners, porters and catering staff are due to stage a march against their jobs being outsourced.

The workers planned to depart from Colchester Hospital on Saturday morning in a fresh wave of strike action, before holding a rally in the city's Castle Park.

It comes amid an increasingly bitter row over East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust's (ESNEFT) plan to outsource jobs.

ESNEFT said its final decision would not be made until November.

The strike action started at 06:00 BST and was due to last 24 hours at Colchester Hospital, as well as at several of ESNEFT's community sites.

A further 48-hour strike was also planned from 06:00 on Monday, following 13 days of walkouts having already been staged since the plan was revealed.

Patients have been urged to attend their appointments as usual during the walkouts

Caroline Hennessy, from the public service union Unison, said staff had been "overwhelmed" by support they were receiving from patients and the public.

"Patients value cleaners, porters and other facilities staff and know that the services they provide will suffer if they’re sold off to a private company with its shareholders’ interests at heart," she added.

ESNEFT urged patients with hospital appointments to "attend as planned" during the walkouts.

"We are committed to keeping disruption to services to a minimum and our focus is on patient care and safety," the trust said.

"Our nursing team, doctors, therapists and all other staff will continue to care for patients as usual."