HUNDREDS of health workers are expected to walk out for 24 hours this week in a continuing row over pay.

Trade unions GMB, Unison and Unite have confirmed their members, which include paramedics, nurses and midwives, will be taking part in the national industrial action on Thursday.

Ambulance members with GMB will strike for 24 hours from 0001, while other health workers will take action for 12 hours from midday.

Members of Unison and Unite are also set to go on strike on the same day in a long-running dispute over the government's refusal to accept a pay review body's recommendation of a 1% rise for all NHS workers.

It follows similar strikes last year, when thousands took place in mass demonstrations outside Arrowe Park Hospital and Clatterbridge Hospital.

A spokesman for Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “We have robust contingency plans for the protection of patient safety and care in the event of disruptions which could impact on service provision.

“These include plans for industrial action and it has been agreed with the relative trade union organisations that critical posts will be exempt from taking action.”