The response from relatives of bedridden patients and from volunteers to a call to help out at hospitals and homes for the elderly remained poor yesterday as industrial action by nursing aides, health assistants and care workers continued to bite.

The government had called on relatives and volunteers to help wash and clean patients, after the General Workers' Union directed these three categories to do only food-related jobs instead of the normal tasks they do for patients.

The directives have had the most impact at St Vincent de Paul Residence, mainly because of the number of bedridden patients.

The union issued the directives on August 3 and called them off on Friday, when a meeting with the authorities was held. However, the meeting was inconclusive and the union reinstated the directives after less than 24 hours. The directives were ordered over three issues - nursing aides' demand for wage scale 13, the roster and a claim for a premium allowance for the three categories. The government has already said it was willing to discuss the roster issue.

Contacted yesterday, a spokesman for the Health Division said the response from relatives and volunteers to help out had been minimal.

He said that if the union accepted the Lm195 per year allowance that the government was offering care workers, it would be prepared to meet on the issue of working hours.

On Sunday, section secretary Louis Marsh told The Times that the union would not call off its directives until a meeting with the authorities takes place and the union assures itself that the government's intentions were "serious".