LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Thousands of ambulance workers in England and Wales walked out over pay on Wednesday, increasing the strain on a state-funded health service a day after nurses went on strike, as government ministers advised the public to avoid taking risks.
The government said the “deeply regrettable” strike would result in fewer ambulances on the road, with only the most urgent life-threatening cases such as heart attacks prioritised.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said the public should “just use their common sense”, adding that the action came when the National Health Service (NHS) was “already facing very significant pressure” from cases of flu and COVID-19.
“That’s the point at which the trade unions have chosen to take industrial action and in doing so they haven’t been willing to work with us to agree to national exemptions in terms of covering all of the category one, category two, life-threatening and emergency calls,” he told the BBC.
“This implication that somehow we’ve been negligent is really quite shocking,” she told Reuters on a picket line in the capital. “(It’s) intimidating in public.”
She said medical workers, including ambulance crews, had “walked away in droves” as services declined.
“It will put more pressure on workers who are being left behind,” she said, adding that health officials are having trouble hiring and retaining workers.
44-year-old paramedic Tim Stevens said the pressure on all paramedics was “completely unprecedented.”
“We can’t keep up with the pace of this work, especially emergency service patients waiting hours every day,” he said.
Sharon Graham, her McAnea colleague at Unite, said all Category 1 calls will be answered and Category 2 calls, including conditions such as stroke, will be evaluated by healthcare workers. London paramedics on strike over pay
“This strike didn’t have to happen,” she told the BBC. will be able to return to work.”
Her GMB, the third union, says that since 2010, medical wages have fallen by 17% in real terms, while ambulance demand has increased by 77% over the same period.
The government said that an independent payroll agency has given more than 1 million of her NHS workers a raise of at least £1,400 ($1,704) and a pay raise of at least 4% for most ambulance workers.
The union has called for her CPI in November to exceed her inflation rate of 10.7%.
Barkley said the company is focused on closing backlogs caused by the pandemic and reducing hospital delays for patients arriving in hospitals by ambulance. He said the government had accepted recommendations from the Pay Review Board, which came into force almost nine months ago.
“We have already started the payment process for next April and the discussion should take place there,” he told LBC Radio.
The NHS Confederation, which represents the NHS organization, said the strike put patient safety at risk.
“This is the worst time for industrial action,” Chief Executive Matthew Taylor told his ITV.
“Even without the ambulance industrial action today, it would have taken twice as long to reach Category 2 people.
Although the Army is on standby to assist in driving and manoeuvring emergency vehicles, Soldiers do not have all the powers emergency personnel need to respond or provide clinical care.
