TALKS were taking place today in a bid to avert strike action at a mental health hospital over night shift rotas.

Nearly 100 staff are involved in a dispute between Unison and management at Whalley-based Calderstones Hospital NHS Trust.

Night-shift health workers are upset over plans to change their working patterns every 18 months, as part of the trust's modernisation proposals.

Currently the night shift, which operates from 7.40pm to 7.20am, completes a 75-hour fortnight system, where staff work four days, then take three days rest, then reverse the process in the second week.

The full details of the shift changes have not been disclosed.

However Unison said with the 18-month changeover it would mean some workers would always be working Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off - with others would face the opposite difficulty.

Discussions have been scheduled with the conciliation service ACAS today.

Staff had already balloted for strike action earlier in the month.

Unison branch secretary Dennis Millington said: "There are a lot of things which the trust have not taken into consideration when proposing this.

"And there have been a lot of individual cases, where people have expressed their own concerns, which have not been listened to."

Graham Jowett, the trust's corporate strategy director, said: "For the last three or four years we have been trying to modernise the quality of service for our users and have been in a lot of discussions with the union about shift patterns.

"This affects a small group of staff on night duties.

"We will be able to comment further after our meeting at ACAS."

Mr Millington said that if the changeover policy was not withdrawn, following the ACAS talks, then staff would be consulted over possible future action.

The union had planned to take limited industrial action overnight on May 24 and 25 and again on May 31 and June 1.

But these plans have been suspended after the hospital trust applied to have the matter resolved by ACAS.

Discussions have been ongoing within the trust over possible contingency measures, including drafting in replacement staff as cover, if any strike or other stoppage goes ahead.