The MSF union has warned that the NHS faces a staffing crisis if pay rates for 65,000 professional staff continue to fall below rates for nurses and other staff covered by the NHS pay review body.

NHS professional staff include Medical Laboratory Scientists (MLSO) who carry out screening in hospitals for serious illnesses such as meningitis.

They also include Hospital Pharmacists, Clinical Scientists and Cytology Screeners who test for cancer.

MSF claims that these workers have lost out financially since the decision of the then health minister Kenneth Clarke to exclude them from the pay review body 15 years ago.

The union claims that the move has led to a steady erosion of their pay relative to other NHS staff.

Checkout staff

An MLSO graduate receives £7,476 a year compared with £14,400 for a graduate nurse. A supermarket checkout assistant gets £9,106.

Roger Lyons, MSF General Secretary, said: "The situation for many professional staff in the NHS is untenable.

"A graduate scientist can earn more scanning beans in a supermarket than they can scanning for terminal illnesses in a hospital.

"We have grave concerns that professional staff may receive a lower pay increase this year than other health workers which will further exacerbate the problem."

Mr Lyons said a recent survey of 300 hospital pharmacy departments revealed a 16% vacancy rate compared to 3-5% for nurses.

He said the same story was repeated across professional staff grades throughout the NHS.

"The NHS needs the skills of these professionals; there is no justification for giving them second-class treatment.

"We want parity for our members and entry to the Pay Review Body."

At present each grouping of professional NHS workers negotiates its pay directly with the NHS Executive via a body known as a functional council, made up of representatives of the profession and union members.