AN action plan aimed at protecting staff and patient services at Fairfield Hospital has been issued following last month's no-confidence vote by senior doctors.

Union representatives have delivered the 12-point plan to the management of the Pennine Acute NHS Trust, which runs Fairfield, and will meet with them on Wednesday to discuss the content in detail. A meeting with MPs is also being organised.

Three weeks ago consultants and top clinicians from the across the trust called for the management team to stand down amid claims that targets had taken priority over providing a decent quality of care for patients.

Up to 300 doctors, including 80 from Fairfield Hospital, were balloted for a motion which stated the trust board had failed to behave in an open and trustworthy manner and establish a working environment where staff felt "valued, respected and unafraid".

More than 200 senior medics from Fairfield, Rochdale Infirmary, Royal Oldham, North Manchester General and Birch Hill Hospitals voted in favour of no- confidence.

The ballot followed a union vote in June when 33 shop stewards representing 7,000 staff also passed a no-confidence vote against the executive members of the board.

The union's 12-point plan was agreed at an emergency general meeting of the Central Shop Stewards Committee and includes calls for immediate reviews into the harassment policy to protect staff from bullying and the disciplinary policy to treat staff more fairly.

The plan also calls for a more open recruitment procedure to stop people being appointed into posts that have not been advertised, described as unacceptable in an organisation that prides itself on its openness and transparency.

Other points include an end to situations where proposals are presented as management decisions and imposed without meaningful negotiation as well as a full commitment to partnership working by the management.

Staff side secretary Pete Hinchliffe said: "The 12-point action plan is not intended to be a complete solution in itself. The problems at Pennine go far too deep for that. However, we do believe that they provide a basis for further discussion."

A spokesman for the Pennine Acute Trust responded: "These items help set a strong framework to begin discussions with the union reps. We do see discussions as being the way forward and are looking forward to meeting."