STAFF at the Royal Bolton Hospital are to vote on whether to accept a pay deal being offered by the Department of Health.

Unison, the hospital's largest union, is preparing to ballot its members across the country, and if the pay offer is rejected, health service staff could strike.

The Government has offered NHS workers an eight per cent pay rise over the next three years. Workers will receive 2.75 this year, followed by a 2.4 per cent increase in 2009/10 and a 2.25 per cent increase in 2010/11, if the offer is accepted.

Unison leaders will meet with members this week to explain the pay offer before holding a ballot next month.

Branch secretary Harry Hanley said; "We will be having meetings with all our members. There is the possibility this offer could be rejected."

Bosses at the Royal Bolton Hospital had budgeted for a two per cent rise. Because the Government has offered 2.75 per cent, the hospital must now find an extra £650,000.

Dr Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton South-east has written to the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, calling for the funding gap to be plugged with extra cash from Whitehall.

The hospital has already announced it needs to make £6.6 million worth of savings, with up to 90 jobs being axed.