A hospital trust is planning to extend a scheme under which dozens of unpaid jobseekers help deliver patient care in its wards.

After a pilot involving six unemployed people working unpaid for eight weeks to help feed patients and clean wards, Sandwell and West Birmingham hospitals trust said it was aiming to extend the government work experience programme to all three of its hospitals.

The trust said all participants in the initial pilot were CRB-checked and received two weeks of training at Sandwell College before carrying out their tasks in hospital wards, involving "general tidying, welcoming visitors, serving drinks to patients, running errands, reading to patients and assisting with feeding patients".

Union representatives confirmed they had been consulted , and had initially consented to, plans that meant unemployed people could gain experience of work at the hospital.

But they said they had not agreed that the jobseekers would "play a direct role in patient care" and said they were very worried about the prospect of this happening.

After protests over the work experience scheme earlier this year, ministers changed the rules to make it possible for jobseekers to pull out of their placements without having their benefits docked.

A later freedom of information request uncovered that the rule change now applies to three out of the five schemes that are not explicitly mandatory.

The hospital trust said the eight-week placements were "not nursing roles" but would instead "support patients through their hospital experience".

"We are situated in a deprived area with high unemployment and we think it is important to help get people back into work. The project gave participants the opportunity to gain confidence, training and experience, under supervision," a trust statement said.

It added that two participants were offered jobs after taking part, but clarified that these jobs were outside the NHS.

"The pilot is now complete and, after further consultation with trade unions and managers, we are aiming to run similar programmes across our three hospitals: City hospital in Birmingham, Sandwell hospital and Rowley Regis hospital," the statement said.

A Unison spokesperson described the move as "a worrying glimpse of the future", saying that feeding patients and helping them to drink were skilled aspects of patient care and required people with the "right experience".

Ravi Subramanian, the head of Unison, West Midlands, said: "Far from Tory claims to protect the NHS, Birmingham and Sandwell hospital trust is being forced to find savings of £125m over the next five years.

"Thousands of staff are facing the prospect of losing their jobs and wards are closing. Now the hospital is making moves to deliver healthcare on the cheap, by using people on work experience to help with patient care. Patients and staff will rightly be very worried about the standard of patient care as this scheme is rolled out."