Pickets were in action at hospitals and ambulance ­stations across northern England yesterday as part of the nationwide NHS strike.

Among them were strikers at Calder Royal Hospital in Halifax, where motorists on the busy road at the hospital’s main entrance tooted their support.

Pickets were also out at the entrance to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit, which is threatened with closure.

The plan is supported by Calder Valley Tory MP Craig Whittaker despite a strong campaign against closure by hundreds of his constituents.

Neighbouring Huddersfield’s A&E unit is also threatened.

The closures would leave many emergency patients ­facing a journey of more than 30 miles to Leeds to get treatment.

On the picket line outside Calder Royal A&E was divisional administrative manager Linda Ridkin, who has worked for the NHS for 28 years.

“It’s about time we had a pay rise,” she told the Morning Star. “We have not had a pay rise for years and I don’t think the government appreciates the job we do.

“We work a lot more hours than we are paid for. It runs on good will and the good will is running out.

“The MPs have given themselves a pay rise.”

At Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, around 40 midwives were on the picket line and cheered every time a driver tooted their horn.

Becky Banks, who has been a midwife for 18 years, said that she and her comrades were “absolutely buzzing” from the public’s support for their strike action, which has been “overwhelming.”

Colleague Kate Robison, who joined the NHS in 1972, has only been on strike once before.

“Jeremy Hunt needs to come on the shop floor and work with some of the midwives and see what we do,” she said.

“Come and work a 13-hour shift without a break and do overtime that is not paid, because that is the reality for many midwives working within the NHS today.”

Unison North East regional convenor Clare Williams added: “Today has shown the strength of feeling among health workers that they deserve fair pay.”