DENTAL nurses in East Lancashire - some of whom had worked for an emergency service on and off for nearly 20 years - could be in line for unfair dismissal payouts.

Five employees of Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust took the organisation to an employment tribunal after the emergency dental service (EDS) was reorganised last summer.

Joanne Clarke, Janine Boothman, Julie Blackstock and Janet Mather had been bank dental nurses since 1999 and Linzi Tiffin worked for the Accrington Victoria Hospital unit since 2003, the tribunal heard.

Monthly rotas were drafted at intervals and bosses had to be informed if shifts were to be swapped.

All five were told by the trust that from October 2017, full-time nurses would be offered emergency shifts, as Lancashire Care sought to reduce a budget overspend, the hearing was told.

None of the five were able to attend a consultation meeting held in Preston three days later - though it is possible they did not appreciate their true position.

New terms were issued to nurses - stressing that under new arrangements there was no "employment relationship" to be inferred between the bank staff and the trust. The five refused to sign the fresh deal.

The nurses lodged a grievance through health union Unison and pursued unfair dismissal claims. Mrs Blackstock, Mrs Mather and Mrs Boothman also claimed breach of contract.

Allowing the unfair dismissal claims Employment Judge Hilary Slater said: "It appears the bank dental nurses were largely forgotten through a mistaken view as to their employment status and a lack of understanding of the nature of the arrangements for staffing the out of hours EDS."

But the judge dismissed the contract breach claims as no "global" deal covered the time between rota shifts.