Hospital staff set up picket lines for the NHS’s first day of strike action in more than 30 years.

About ten employees braved torrential rain to stand outside Braintree Community Hospital, in Chadwick Drive, Braintree, for four hours on Monday morning as part of an ongoing row with the Government about pay.

Paramedics from the East of England Ambulance Service also picketed outside the Braintree ambulance unit, based in Rayne Road, from 7am to 11am.

Twelve staff striked, which meant that some ambulances were unable to be used.

Tim Roberts, regional organiser for health union Unison, which organised hundreds of picket lines across the country, said: “At Braintree Community Hospital, we had a mixture of domestic staff and nurses.

“Within the ambulance trust we agreed a protocol that the highest level of emergencies would still be responded to so our members could still be called in if they were needed.

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.