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NHS workers stage four-hour strike in pay row

NHS workers are staging a four-hour strike today in a row with the Government over pay.

Midwives, nurses, radiographers, paramedics and psychiatric staff will walk out in protest at the Government's refusal to accept a recommended 1% wage rise for all NHS employees.

NHS England said "robust plans" were in place to protect patients during the strike.

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NHS workers 'can't afford to back off'

NHS staff at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, London, form a picket line Credit: PA Wire

The row over NHS pay will continue until next May unless fresh talks are agreed, unions have warned.

Linda Perks, Unison's London regional secretary, said they expected the Government's approach to remain unchanged next year, meaning 60% of staff would continue to be denied a pay rise.

She said: "It's like a game of snakes and ladders because health workers will be back to pay levels of 2013, forcing them to work overtime or take out loans.

"The pay campaign will continue because we simply cannot afford to back off."

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