OXFORDSHIRE health workers faced with heavy job losses are to consider taking industrial action.

The health workers' union Unison says it is to organise county-wide meetings to assess the levels of support for a ballot in the face of mounting speculation about the level of jobs cuts across the local NHS.

The issue of strike action was raised last week at a rally at Oxford Town Hall, organised by Unison and the Keep our NHS Public campaign.

Mark Ladbrooke, chairman of Unison's Oxfordshire health branch, said the union was to organise a meeting in Oxford, possibly with additional meetings in Abingdon and Banbury, to gauge the opinion of members.

Mr Ladbrooke said: "There are a considerable number of discussions going on at the moment and many rumours about the closure of community hospitals."

He said industrial action was being looked at as "a serious idea". Mr Ladbrooke said it was too early to say what form the industrial action could take.

Under the package of cuts announced last month, it was confirmed that 600 posts must go at the John Radcliffe Hospital, the Churchill Hospital, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and the Horton in Banbury.

About 225 jobs will be in nursing and 250 managerial and in administration. The rest will be made up of health workers, doctors and therapists.

A spokesman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Anyone whose job might be at risk has been informed. We are now into a three-month consultation and it will be some time before we know what the impact will look like."

The trust points to the fact that it has about 600 job vacancies and there was potential for people to be moved within the trust and to other trusts.

But Unison fear jobs in primary health care could also be under threat. The union has called on officials to clarify plans in the face of speculation about the future of hospitals such as Abingdon and Wallingford.

Alison Brumfitt, spokesman for Oxfordshire PCTs, said redundancies could not be ruled out, with savings having to be made in primary care.