Union leaders today called for an urgent meeting with police chiefs to discuss the latest death threats against health workers in Northern Ireland.
Around 800 staff from three Belfast hospitals held simultaneous lunchtime protests today.
Unison official Ms Patricia McKeown appealed for the threats to be lifted.
She said they were seeking to meet Assistant PSNI Chief Constable Mr Alan McQuillan. "We have asked through the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for the meeting with Mr McQuillan and we hope that will be a joint meeting involving the unions and the hospital trusts involved.
"It is vital at this time to have a more robust system for handling these threats so that we have a clear idea of what is real and what isn't," she said.
Staff at the Royal Victoria Hospital in west Belfast, the Mater Hospital in the north of the city and the Ulster Hospital on the eastern outskirts at Dundonald have been targeted by loyalist and republican terror groups.
At the weekend, a group calling itself the Catholic Reaction Force said it would kill three unnamed members of staff with security force links working in both the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Mater Hospital.
There was no codeword attached to the warning, which led to Sinn Féin politicians accusing loyalist paramilitaries of being behind them.
This was quickly followed by a threat from the loyalist Red Hand Defenders, using a recognised codeword, to kill Catholic workers at the Mater Hospital and the Ulster Hospital.