HUNDREDS of hospital cleaners begin a seven day walk-out this morning as their ongoing dispute over pay continues.

This is the sixth time the Unison members have taken to the picket line outside Southampton General Hospital but this will be their longest stint on strike since they began industrial action last year.

They claim Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust have failed to pay them agreed NHS pay rates despite receiving funding from the Government over the past four years.

The trust has introduced sick pay, increased basic pay rates and said it had invested more than £1m over three years to do this. But no agreement can be reached on the union's demands for sick pay to be backdated to 2006.

Hospital bosses insist that robust measure have been put in place to ensure the hospital remains clean during the strike.