Angry nurses at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital who are being forced to take a pay cut of up to £3,000 a year were being balloted on strike action today.

Around 250 staff in the intensive care unit at the Wednesfield site will vote on whether to walk out during a two-week ballot.

If backed, the action could begin by the end of the month.

Officials at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals Trust say they are moving some nurses to lower paid grades because they were paid too much in error.

But staff claim trust bosses are reducing the numbers of workers on higher pay grades and expecting people to carry out the same job on a lower wage.

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Angry nurses at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital who are being forced to take a pay cut of up to £3,000 a year were being balloted on strike action today.

Around 250 staff in the intensive care unit at the Wednesfield site will vote on whether to walk out during a two-week ballot.

If backed, the action could begin by the end of the month.

Officials at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals Trust say they are moving some nurses to lower paid grades because they were paid too much in error.

But staff claim trust bosses are reducing the numbers of workers on higher pay grades and expecting people to carry out the same job on a lower wage.

Angry nurses at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital who are being forced to take a pay cut of up to £3,000 a year were being balloted on strike action today.

Around 250 staff in the intensive care unit at the Wednesfield site will vote on whether to walk out during a two-week ballot.

If backed, the action could begin by the end of the month.

Officials at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals Trust say they are moving some nurses to lower paid grades because they were paid too much in error.

But staff claim trust bosses are reducing the numbers of workers on higher pay grades and expecting people to carry out the same job on a lower wage.One experienced nurse, who asked not to be named, said today: “I have worked for the NHS for many years and have never wanted to do anything else.

“I still love my job today but at the moment I cannot see any likelihood of attitudes and the working environment returning to a time when it was a delight to go to work.

“I am not an advocate of industrial action but if we don’t do something, the nursing hierarchy and management will continue to ride roughshod over a very vulnerable group of staff whose morale is at a particularly low ebb.”

Other nurses have also come forward to say they feel they are being backed into a corner.

They say the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs New Cross, has created a 29-bed critical care department, which is a ‘highly complex and difficult project’ and needs skilled nurses from higher pay bands.

The strike threat has been condemned by senior Tettenhall Tory councillor Barry Findlay, who described it as ‘gravely concerning’.

Hospital bosses have assured patients there will be an intensive care unit operating in the event of industrial action.

Chief executive David Loughton said a review had decided around 100 staff were in the wrong pay bracket.

Some staff on low grades got pay increases. Staff last week voted unanimously for a ballot to decide on strike action.

They say they are being told to learn completely new specialities while at the same time taking pay cuts.