Hospital cleaners and security staff campaign to be recognised as NHS workers

They keep our hospitals running – but cleaners and security guards say they are not recognised as NHS workers and face financial hardship if they take time off sick.

They are blaming hospital trusts for outsourcing their jobs to private companies who do not offer the same protections as staff directly employed by the health service.

Security guards at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital have now gone on strike – saying they’re being treated unfairly – calling it tantamount to racial discrimination, allegations which the trust denies.