STAFF at the borough's hospital trust are set to go on another 48-hour strike in two weeks as the row over the role of a private NHS company continues.

Hundreds of workers at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust (WWL) took to the picket lines outside sites including Leigh Infirmary on Wednesday and Thursday in opposition to the creation of WWL Solutions Limited.

There are concerns that staff members' jobs, pay and conditions would be at risk if they outsourced to the private NHS company WWL Solutions Limited.

Unison say it would affect around 900 staff who are employed in positions such as Cleaners, caterers and porters.

Trade union Unison, which has around 600 WWL workers, has warned that there will be a 48-hour strike starting at 6am on Friday, June 8 if "significant progress" is not made in talks between the two parties.

Members of Fighting for out NHS also took part in the strike.

Unison North West regional organiser Lizanne Devonport said: “There is phenomenal opposition to the trust’s outsourcing plan and tremendous support for the staff who have taken strike action.

“The trust has underestimated how strongly its workforce feels about their proposal and how important it is for them to remain as 100 per cent NHS workers.

"There is also political pressure for this plan to be stopped with Lisa Nandy MP giving strong public support to strikers and Jo Platt MP raising this in Parliament.

“Andrew Foster and the trust board now need to show some humility and leadership and withdraw this toxic proposal.

"It is simply unacceptable to staff that they should be moved out of the NHS to a private company.

"The trust needs to find another way forward or risk entering a prolonged dispute."

WWL chief executive Andrew Foster has praised the efforts of the trust in coping with the strike as well as expressing disappointment in reports of "obstructive behaviour".

He said: "During the industrial action that has taken place over the past two days, we have seen how the WWL Family has pulled together to ensure that patient care remains at the forefront of everything we do.

"I would like to say thank you to all the volunteers and estates and facilities staff who have worked to keep disruption to our services to a minimum.

"A big measure of how well our system works is our A and E performance and, on the first day of the industrial action, WWL performance was the best it has been for two years, with only one patient waiting over the four hour target in our A and E department.

"No operations or appointments were cancelled and patients were positive in their feedback to staff, reporting that they saw no disruption to services or care.

"The only inconvenience experienced was the closure of the shop.

"However, I am disappointed that there have been some incidents of obstructive behaviour.

"Urinals have been blocked with paper, cleaning materials have gone missing from wards and departments, damage has been found in public disabled toilets and lights have been tampered with.

"We also believe that quite a lot of the people on the picket lines during the two days were not staff members of WWL.

"Lessons have been learned from the strike and it has given us an opportunity to look at ways to better improve our services in future.

"This can only be a good thing when it comes to serving our patients.

"WWL has been notified that the next round of industrial action will take place between Friday, June 8 until Sunday, June 10.

"We will again be asking for internal volunteers to cover the roles affected by the strike that during this time.

"Once again, I would like to reassure patients, visitors and staff that services will continue as normal but please bear with us as there may be minimal disruption during the strike."