MEDICAL Secretaries at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary could be set to walk out over poor pay, excessive workloads and deteriorating morale.

A well attended meeting of the public sector union UNISON unanimously voted to ballot for industrial action.

Secretaries claim the shut down would cause sever disruption and may cause the RLI to grind to a halt.

Secretaries' spokeswoman Audrey Reeves said: "Following a show of hands at the recent meeting, it was unanimously decided that should there be a negative response to our application for re-grading we will proceed to a ballot for industrial action.

"This suggestion was extremely well received last Thursday and I am sure that there will be a very positive response if the ballot goes ahead."

Mrs Reeves claims that other NHS trusts are pushing up pay rates for secretaries to deal with a staff shortage.