UNIONS have warned a bitter dispute over NHS pay is expected to continue into the New Year and beyond.

NHS workers across Sussex have already taken part in two strikes as part of national industrial action over the Government’s refusal to award a 1% pay rise.

Pickets were held outside hospitals around the county as members of 11 unions walked out.

They included the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, Worthing Hospital and St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester.

Strikers included midwives, nurses, radiographers, cleaners, psychiatric staff and ambulance workers.

In a joint statement the unions involved, including Unison and the GMB, said: “With a further £2billion promised by the Chancellor for the NHS for front line staff and services, trade unions representing more than one million NHS workers are calling on the government to use some of this money to resolve the ongoing pay dispute.

“It is in patients’ interests to have staff who feel motivated and fairly rewarded.”