STAFF at Warrington Hospital will go on strike this weekend following a four-year industrial dispute with a number of operations set to be cancelled.

Theatre staff will walk out on strike tomorrow, Friday, and again on Monday and Friday next week after voting overwhelmingly for action last month.

Halton Hospital and the Cheshire and Merseyside Treatment Centre in Runcorn are not involved in the industrial action.

But Halton patients scheduled for surgery and procedures at Warrington Hospital may be affected.

All patients are advised to attend as normal unless they are contacted directly by the hospital.

Unite members and hospital bosses have clashed in a row over changes to their terms and conditions, which staff believe could adversely affect patient safety, for the last four years.

Concerns have been raised over new rotas for emergency cover in the hospital’s theatres, which would have a ‘significant’ impact on the pay of some staff members and change the number of operating department practitioners on-call during nights and on weekends.

The union said that a ballot backed by 80 per cent of members displayed a ‘depth of anger which cannot be ignored’ among staff.

Theatre staff will strike for four-hour periods on the three days of industrial action this week and next week, but more severe action could be taken if an agreement is not be reached.

Unite regional officer Derek Jones claimed that workers were being ‘held to ransom’ by Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

He said: “This is a highly-committed team that is working under a highly stressful situation, and they have faced these changes in working practice and cuts to their pay for four years.

“For even longer, they have been working with a severe shortage of directly-employed staff and the trust has been relying on agency staff.

“These are highly trained and highly professional staff and it’s very unusual to get staff of this calibre to vote for industrial action.

“They really do feel that they’ve been pushed in to a corner and that they have no choice.

“In September, we will move to one-day, 24-hour stoppages if we haven’t got a resolution.”

Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that it was ‘disappointed’ that staff had opted to strike and confirmed that the industrial action will cause disruption to planned operations.

The trust said it had made four separate ‘improved offers’ to staff but offers of mediation were ‘rejected outright’.

Jan Ross, acting chief operating officer at Warrington Hospital, said: “This dispute is about pay and the terms and conditions of theatre staff.

“What we are proposing is safe for our patients and this has been confirmed by an independent review.

“The trust has so far made four separate offers addressing the 15 separate demands made by staff, and agreement has been reached on all but one element where staff are seeking a contractual agreement to work no more than one weekend in four.

“The trust cannot agree to this as we must put our patients first and emergency cover must be provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Emergency procedures are not affected by the strikes, nor are operations taking place at Halton Hospital or the Cheshire and Merseyside Treatment Centre.

Patients should attend their appointments as planned unless contacted directly by the trust.

Ms Ross added: “The trust’s final offer remains on the table for now, plus a commitment to review the rotas in six months following implementation assessing frequency of weekend and night shifts.

“We reaffirm our commitment to filling any gaps in night and weekend rotas with bank or agency staff unless theatre staff elect to work this as overtime.

“Theatre staff have been working to rule during these negotiations, which includes an overtime ban that has already impacted on patients having their planned operations rescheduled.

“We sincerely apologise to those patients that have and will be affected by this action, and affirm our commitment to continue to negotiate in order to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.”

Staff plan to walk out between 1pm and 5pm on Friday, 8am and 12 noon on Monday, August 21 and 1pm to 5pm on Friday, August 25.