Hundreds of NHS workers are to stage two 24-hour strikes in a bitter row over privatisation.
Workers at NHS Logistics, who deliver goods ranging from bedpans to food to hospitals and GP surgeries across England, will walk out at 10pm next Thursday.
The workers will stage a second 24-hour strike, the date of which will be announced early next week.
Further industrial action will follow the two strikes in what will be the biggest outbreak of unrest in the Health Service for almost 20 years.
The workers voted earlier this week to take industrial action after the Government confirmed the transfer of their jobs to German-owned delivery giant DHL, which Unison said was a contract worth £3.7 billion.
Officials from the union agreed that two strikes should be held and that subsequent industrial action will follow. The logistics workers have never been on strike before, but officials said they were "angry" at the privatisation of their jobs.
Workers who will walk out are based at distribution centres in Alfreton, Derbyshire; Runcorn, Cheshire; Normanton, West Yorkshire; Maidstone, Kent and Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.
Unison said it would draw up emergency plans, but warned that the strike will have an immediate impact on hospital supplies. Officials warned that hospitals across England will quickly run out of bulky items such as bedpans and will run short of hand gel, latex gloves and food.
Unison's General Secretary Dave Prentis said: "These are not troublemakers, not hard-liners but workers who care deeply about the NHS. They are hardworking public service workers who are now making a stand to protect our NHS.
"They will have the full support of Unison and the resources we can make available. NHS Logistics is an award-winning service and it makes no sense to sell it off to DHL."
