STRIKING nurses formed a picket line outside Minehead Hospital today as NHS workers held their largest display of industrial action for years.

Nine of the 14 nurses at the hospital took part in day one of a two-day walkout, leaving enough staff for essential cover.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) picket line supervisor Mandi Usher said the strike action showed the strength of feeling among nurses.

District nurse Ms Usher said: “Minehead is such a small town and we are desperately trying to get nurses here.

“But because nurses are left with £52,000 of debt when they train it is hard to get them here and also the transport getting into Minehead is not very good.

“We wanted to be seen to be doing something about it.

“We need to be seen so people understand why this is happening.”

Ms Usher said better incentives were needed to attract nurses to work in West Somerset, such as improved wage levels.

She said the industrial action was also about trying to achieve a better service for patients.

“We have got nurses covering for patients who need to be seen,” she said. “Patient care has not been disrupted at all.”

Ms Usher said the public had shown huge support for the nurses with many passing motorists honking their horns.

The RCN has demanded an above inflation 19 per cent pay rise for its nurses, who in England start on a salary of £27,000 a year when they qualify, but the Government has said it was ‘unaffordable’.

At the same time as today’s walkout by nurses, ambulance staff who are members of the GMB union were also striking today and tomorrow.

The GMB has said a 4.75 per cent wage rise this year for ambulance staff, whose average salary was nearly £47,000 a year, was not enough.

The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust which runs Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, advised patients to attend appointments as normal and not to call ahead to check.

It said any patient who was affected by the industrial action would be directly contacted by the hospital.

South Western Ambulance Services NHS Trust said during the industrial action patients should continue to call 999 if it was a life-threatening injury/illness situation.

If it was not considered life-threatening, patients might be asked to consider seeking alternative transport if they needed medical support.