SOME cleaners could lose up to £50 a week under a pay deal being thrashed out at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital.

A member of staff set to lose out has slammed the downgrading of certain posts as "penny pinching", claiming it hits the lowest-paid workers.

Bosses claim they need to tweak salaries because not all cleaners are on the same rates, while some should be rewarded for carrying out additional tasks.

Under the proposals, cleaners would be paid a Band 1 rate of between £15,251 and £15,516 a year full time - some are already on that pay scale, while others earn up to £17,978 as Band 2 employees.

The issue arose because some of the 221 cleaning staff carry out additional duties such as serving food and helping patients.

Anyone losing out will not be penalised for at least six months.

A cleaner said: "We're already the lowest-paid workers and now they're threatening to take away some of our money.

"They try to justify it by saying they're removing some of our duties, but it's demoralising and people are talking about looking for new jobs.

"People have got mortgages and kids to feed and clothe - how are they going to cope losing a large chunk of their earnings?"

Hayley Peters, executive director of patient care at Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Musgrove, said a consultation process is underway and staff can air their views.

She added: "Cleanliness is the absolute bedrock on which all our care for patients rests.

"Our cleaning staff take pride in their work, but they are hampered by a model that doesn’t meet the needs of a modern hospital, and we need to reach excellence across the board.

“After a careful review of the service, we are now consulting staff on a new model that would provide much more consistency in keeping the highest standards, but also offer a clear career progression to higher-graded posts for those who want this.

“We have cleaning staff doing largely the same jobs but on different pay scales and to different job descriptions, with some cleaning staff helping with patient meals and other duties.

"We need to standardise this, and under the nationally-fixed Agenda for Change pay scales, the new cleaning role has been set at a Band 1. A proportion of our cleaners are already paid at this level.

“Our cleaners affected by this would have their pay protected for at least six months, and for up to two years for longer-serving staff.

"We understand that some staff will be anxious about the changes and we are doing our very best to minimise their concerns."