Having won an equal pay award for women members in North Cumbria, the public sector union Unison could have opened the way to tens of thousands of other health workers to do the same.

Female staff at North Cumbria Acute NHS Trust have won backpay of between £35,000 and £200,000 each in a landmark case.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "It's been a long hard struggle but this is a fantastic result."

And health minister John Hutton insisted "this settlement will not have a serious impact on local services".