Campaigners will gather outside a tribunal next week to show support for a union leader who was sacked after 26 years of NHS service.

Charlotte Monro, once hailed as the Whipps Cross hospital’s greatest champion, was employed as a moving and handling coordinator at the Leytonstone hospital.

In July 2013 Ms Munro, also the chairwoman for Unison’s Waltham Forest health branch was suspended from her position after Barts Trust found out about ‘undisclosed prison sentences’ relating to protests in her past.

However, the activist who was championed after her efforts during the save the hospital campaign in 2009 claims she was dismissed as a result of her union work.

She said disciplinary action began against her when she expressed concerns about changes to stroke services at a council meeting.

“The trust disagreed with these concerns and they’ve therefore termed what I said as inaccurate information,” she added.

“I think the action against me has serious implications for the rights of people in the community to speak up as well as the rights of staff.”

Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis said that Charlotte was a “long serving and respected health worker” and that “No employer should be allowed to act in this way”.

Reinstate Charlotte campaign organiser Norma Dudley said: “All that Charlotte did was represent her union members and draw the attention of the local community to the consequences of Whipps Cross cutbacks.

“Barts Health is trying to create a climate of fear where NHS workers keep quiet about cuts to services and union members are cowed into submission over pay and conditions. What’s happened to Charlotte is an outrage which must be righted if justice is to be done.”

An appeal to the Trust against the sacking decision failed, but Unison and local campaigners are hoping that the Employment Tribunal, to be held in Docklands from September 23 to 26, will find that she was wrongfully dismissed.