More than 200 domestic and cleaning staff from Glasgow's Royal Infirmary will begin a two-day strike in protest over pay and conditions.

North Glasgow University Hospitals Trust said it expected the private company which employs the staff, Sodexho, to provide alternative cover.

It is believed the latest problem with private cleaning companies might result in more trusts bringing those staff back in-house.

Two hundred and fifty of the Royal Infirmary's porters, cleaners and domestic staff went on strike on midnight, and will not return to work for 48 hours, in protest at pay levels of below �5 an hour.

The Royal Infirmary contracts out its hotel staff to the French company Sodexho. Talks were continuing on Monday evening about contingency arrangements.

In the 1990s many hospital trusts sacked their cleaning and hospital staff to employ private companies like Sodexho, but now increasing numbers of them are bringing those staff back in house.

The trusts believe it allows greater flexibility and more benefits for staff, while public sector unions like Unison and the GMB argue that private companies have generally led to lower pay and dirtier hospitals.