UNION officials say they are “appalled” that a North-East hospital is using low-paid workers in the Philippines to type up patients’ notes at the same time as cutting the pay of their own staff.

The North-East branch of Unison expressed dismay that the the South Tees Hospitals Trust has been using taxpayer’s money to have typing work for the Middlesbrough trust’s surgical centre undertaken thousands of miles away, in the Philippines.

A spokesman for Unison said the trust used a Manchester-based company called Prescribe to forward the work on to an unidentified organisation in the South East Asian country.

The union understands that the cost of typing a letter is just 13p per line.

“One wonders if, indirectly, the trust is contributing to any potential exploitation of workers in that country,” the spokesman added.

Unison officials are angry that the work is being out-sourced to a developing country on the other side of the world while the trust is making some staff redundant and cutting some salaries.

Unison said the trust is planning to reduce the pay of medical secretaries and health care assistants.

The union is also concerned about patient confidentiality.

The Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop said he was “very concerned” by the development and would be raising the issue with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

But defending the trust’s policies, Sandra Donoghue, managing director of surgical services centre at the South Tees HospitalsTrust said, “The centre has been using the service provided by Prescribe for over six years. It was brought in as a service enhancement to support the excellent work the secretarial staff were, and still are, doing. No staff were displaced or downgraded as a result.

“We found that by using the service, administrative processes have a quicker turnaround which is of benefit to our patients. We find the service both efficient and effective.

“We know that this service, used by many NHS trusts across the country, has to comply with very strict governance guidelines regarding confidentiality and full details on the level of this scrutiny can be found on their website.”

The spokeswoman said a recent medical secretary review had resulted in the creation of more posts but at a lower pay banding. This had affected 25 members of staff.