HOSPITAL workers have said they are "fuming" over further delays in a promised pay rise.

More than 35 non-clinical staff hired by ISS Medical said they feel nothing is being done despite talks with the union Unison, after a promised pay rise is still yet to be paid.

Staff were expecting to receive a pay rise following an announcement by the Department for Health and Social Care that a three-year pay deal for NHS staff in England was going to be extended to staff on the Agenda for Change contracts, who are not directly employed by the NHS.

Employers could apply for a slice of the £800m set aside for the pay increase, which was awarded in 2017.

However, staff in Bishop Auckland have still not received their pay rise and say they are also at loggerheads over plans to pay staff fortnightly - a transition which they say has lost them a week of pay and forced many to take out an interest-free loan to cover the time.

Since The Northern Echo ran an article in March, the staff had been offered a 3.5 per cent pay rise but say they are still waiting for back pay form 2017/18 and 2018/19.

A staff spokesperson said workers felt they were being kept in the dark over the plans.

"There's been no movement and we are not being told anything," they said. "The morale is low and there's this feeling that nobody wants to do anything."

Unison regional organiser, Sheila Wilson, said the union was now lodging a collective grievance with ISS Medical and was "deeply disappointed" by the lack of movement.

She said: "ISS are saying that they cannot afford it and need to wait until the NHS trust decide which is not what they told us before."

An ISS spokesman said employees would receive their pay uplift "shortly" following talks between ISS and the trust.

They said: “By their nature, these talks have taken some time to conclude but ISS is delighted to say that everyone should be receiving their new rate of pay, along with back dated payments, as soon as the funds are made available and without any further delay."