DISILLUSIONED hospital staff are set to stage a protest today after demands for an improved pay deal were not met.

The medical secretaries at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, near Aylesbury, demonstrated last week, claiming that senior management were ignoring their wage demands.

Julie Burnham, a consultant's secretary at the hospital, is campaigning on behalf of other staff.

She said: "What we are saying is that our job is no longer a secretary, it's a personal assistant's."

The administrative and clerical staff at the hospital are paid on a scale of grade one to grade five employees, with secretaries being either a grade three or four.

Their current rates of pay are £11,037 to £15,546, plus proficiency allowances.

Management at the hospital have offered an improved deal, but Mrs Burnham claims they have not gone far enough.

She added: "We had a meeting with personnel management on Friday and they put forward their proposal which is discretionary pay for the secretaries whereby if you feel that you do additional duties you can apply for discretionary pay.

"We took the proposals to the medical secretaries this afternoon and they are not acceptable.

"We are planning to demonstrate on Tuesday.

"We are asking for a total regrading of our positions."

A spokesman for the hospital said: "The situation is that on Friday last week we met with the representatives with proposals for consideration.

"I will be meeting with them again."