UNION chiefs are today (Wednesday, January 21) locked in talks with the Health Secretary in a bid to avert a strike by health workers next Thursday.

Picket lines have been agreed and materials ordered as union members prepare to walk out over pay.

Joanne Kaye, UNISON South West regional secretary, said the sticking point is the Government’s refusal to agree a 1% pay award recommended by the independent NHS Pay Review Body.

She added: “As UNISON members work 24 hours a day in an increasingly crisis-ridden NHS, the very least the Government could do is to implement the Independent Pay Review Body recommendation on NHS Pay.

“NHS staff are the only group of staff from whom the Government has withheld the recommended pay rise.

“If an independent recommendation is good enough for teachers, civil servants, the armed forces and, of course, MPs, then it should be good enough for NHS workers."

Union bosses met Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday (Tuesday) before further talks today.

A Department of Health spokesman said Government proposals that would guarantee all staff at least a 1% pay rise this year and next had been rejected by the unions.

He added: “We have taken tough decisions to increase the NHS budget, but we can't afford a consolidated pay rise in addition to increments without risking 10,000 frontline jobs."