Picket lines greeted patients and visitors at a North-East hospital trust this morning.

Hundreds of porters, cleaners, caterers and other ancillary workers went on strike today to show their anger at the breakdown of pay talks.

Health service union Unison claims that long-serving staff working for the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust are now being paid less than recently recruited staff as part of a phenomenon described as "leapfrogging".

But managers at the trust, which runs the Royal Victoria Infirmary, The Freeman Hospital, Newcastle General Hospital and Walkergate Hospital, have denied that new starters are earning more.

They insist that new pay levels are in line with those agreed nationally between Unison and the NHS.

Ian Daley, regional officer for Unison, said: "We have gone to extreme lengths to ensure that patient care is not affected by our member's action."

Mr Daley said it was "frightening" that management had not taken steps to resolve the dispute.

A spokesman for the Newcastle trust said: "The Trust does very much wish to work with Unison to address the position but in the national context of consistency and collective bargaining."