NHS supplies workers plan second strike

Hundreds of NHS workers are to stage a second 24-hour nationwide strike to coincide with a debate on the health service at next week's Labour party conference in a bitter row over privatisation.

Workers at NHS Logistics, which delivers goods ranging from bedpans to food for hospitals and GP surgeries across England, will walk out at 10pm on September 26.

They are already set to strike from 10pm this Thursday in the biggest outbreak of industrial unrest in the NHS for almost 20 years. The action follows the government's decision to transfer their jobs to German-owned delivery giant DHL.