More than 200 healthcare support staff employed by the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust (ENHT) at sites in Stevenage, Hertford and Welwyn Garden City voted 97% in favour of action.

Guidance says healthcare assistants on salary band 2 of the NHS Agenda for Change pay scale should only be providing personal care, such as bathing and feeding patients.

However, most of the staff have routinely undertaken clinical tasks alongside nurses and midwives that would normally be done by people on the higher band 3, according to the union. This includes taking blood, performing electrocardiogram tests, and inserting cannulas.

The trust has agreed to regrade the affected workers and compensate them for the time they have been paid less than they should have been. However, the ENHT staff say this offer still leaves them thousands of pounds out of pocket and would see them getting less than healthcare assistants who've been rebanded in other NHS trusts.

Unison says the workers are keen to avoid industrial action and the union has written to senior managers at the trust urging them back to the negotiating table to discuss an improved offer.

Caroline Hennessy, Unison Eastern head of health, said: ‘Workers are fed up of providing care on the cheap. The union has tried talking to the trust to get a fair deal, but senior managers are refusing to deliver. That leaves a walkout as the only option left to staff.

‘The trust can put a stop to this by coming back to the negotiating table and making an offer that recognises the vital role clinical and maternity support workers play in delivering quality care.'

In response, a spokesperson for East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, said: ‘We have followed national and regional guidance from NHS England to best ensure that these staff members are sufficiently compensated for any additional work they have taken on. We have also worked closely with ICB colleagues and system partners, and it is our understanding that our offer is in line with other healthcare organisations in the region.

‘We are working with Unison and have engaged Acas in an effort to come to an agreement that satisfies everyone, as well as manage operations at our Trust should any periods of industrial action take place.'