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Hundreds of thousands of NHS staff walk out in pay strike

Hundreds of thousands of health workers walked out on strike today, many for the first time in their lives, in protest at the Government's decision not to give them a recommended 1% pay rise.

Midwives, nurses, paramedics, ambulance staff, and hospital porters and cleaners mounted picket lines across England from 7am for four hours, while action will be taken later today in Northern Ireland.

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England's NHS strike comes to an end

A four hour strike of NHS workers, including midwives, nurses, paramedics, ambulance staff, and hospital porters has come to an end.

Starting at 7am hundreds of thousands of health workers in England staged their first strike over pay in more than 30 years, an industrial action that is also being copied in Northern Ireland later today.

NHS workers picket outside the Bristol Royal Infirmary Hospital, Bristol Credit: Ben Birchall/PA

General secretary of Unite, Len McCluskey, said the high turnout of NHS staff on the picket line showed workers were "not prepared to be treated as second-class citizens any more."

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