NURSES, ambulance workers, porters, paramedics, occupational therapists, cooks and healthcare assistants are among workers walking out from 7-11am on Monday, October 13, over pay.

Workers will also stop working during their allotted breaks from Tuesday to Friday, October 14- 17.

A Musgrove Park Hospital nurse, who asked to remain anonymous, said staff were working harder than ever and rarely took scheduled breaks.

“We have to maintain standards for the patients’ sake but it’s hard putting on a brave face when morale is so low,” the nurse said.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Despite tough financial times we’ve protected the NHS budget and now have 13,500 more clinical staff than in 2010.

“We want to protect these increases and can’t afford incremental pay increases, which disproportionately reward the highest earners, on top of a general pay rise without risking frontline NHS jobs.

“We remain keen to meet unions to discuss how we can work together to make the NHS pay system fairer and more affordable.”