Heart attack and stroke patients warned ambulance not guaranteed as more than 11,000 workers walk out in fresh strike
20 February 2023, 06:59 | Updated: 21 February 2023, 08:24
Thousands of ambulance workers are staging a new strike on Monday in a long-running dispute over pay, staffing and working conditions.
GMB Union said more than 11,000 of its ambulance workers will walk out in England and Wales, including paramedics, emergency care assistants and call handlers.
The public is being warned that heart attack and stroke patients are not guaranteed an ambulance during the strike in some parts of the country.
Only Category One callouts, which includes cardiac arrests, will be exempt from the action, North West Ambulance Service told staff. Meanwhile, there are no exemptions for Category Two calls, including heart attacks and strokes.
Ambulance workers in the Unite union in parts of the country will also be on strike today and on Wednesday.
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: "Ambulance workers across England and Wales will strike today - entirely because this Government is tin-eared.
"It's been over a month since the Government engaged in any meaningful dialogue. They are missing in action and refuse to talk pay.
"There's a recruitment crisis in the NHS. Solving the issue of pay is vital if we're going to stem the tide of dedicated healthcare workers leaving the profession.
"The public back ambulance workers. The Government must listen to them and talk pay now."
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But the government has insisted that strikes by ambulance workers are in "nobody's best interests" and will only affect patients' needs.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: "Strikes are in nobody's best interests and only cause further disruption for patients, despite contingency measures in place.
"It is time unions engaged constructively with the pay review body process for 2023/24 and cancelled strikes so we can move forward and continue tackling the Covid backlog.
"I've been clear throughout that I remain keen to keep talking to unions about what is fair and affordable for the coming financial year, as well as wider concerns around conditions and workload so we can make the NHS a better place to work."
It comes as junior doctors in the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) announce they will take strike action for the first time in the union's history next month.
A ballot of training-grade doctors employed by NHS trusts in England in January saw 97.48% vote in favour of striking, on a 74.76% turnout.
Announcing a walkout on Wednesday March 15, HCSA president Dr Naru Narayanan said: "Junior doctors have held together patient care amid a spiralling staffing crisis.
"In return for this huge emotional, mental and physical toll they've been subjected to a decade of real-terms pay cuts totalling over 26%. Enough is enough.
"Our NHS is in an intolerable situation and junior doctors will not be taken for granted anymore. They are taking decisive action for their patients and for their own wellbeing.
"Falling pay, increasing workloads and dangerous levels of understaffing have driven carers across the NHS to strike. The blame for this lies solely with a complacent Government, seemingly content to let patient care suffer."
