Lives could be put at risk and patients face being abandoned in winter ... trends now
Lives could be put at risk by a massive ambulance strike scheduled for just before Christmas, MPs warned last night.
GMB, Unite and Unison confirmed tens of thousands of their members will walk out on December 21 in a row over pay.
Seriously ill patients could effectively be abandoned and have to take themselves to hospital as a result of the biggest ambulance strike for 30 years. Ten of England and Wales’s 11 paramedic services are involved.
The industrial action has been arranged for the day after 100,000 nurses are set to walk out of hospitals, including casualty and cancer wards. Health bosses were already braced for the toughest winter in the history of the NHS, with emergency services under unprecedented pressure amid bed-blocking and record waiting lists.
GMB, Unite and Unison confirmed tens of thousands of their members will walk out on December 21 in a row over pay. Pictured: NHS Ambulance staff outside a hospital in London
GMB says more than 10,000 of its paramedics, emergency care assistants and call handlers will strike for up to 24 hours.
Up to 15,000 Unison members will walk out and up to 5,000 nurses, porters, healthcare assistants and cleaners represented by the union will strike at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and Liverpool University Hospital.
Unite said more than 1,600 of its members will join the action. The only trust unaffected is the East of England Ambulance Service.
The unions want more than the 4 per cent pay rise they have been given by the Government but the Prime Minister has warned their demands are ‘unaffordable’.
The unions will now meet individual trusts to discuss their requirements for ‘life and limb cover’, meaning they will ensure there are enough staff to offer an emergency-level service. However, plans are also being drawn up for the Army to be drafted in to drive ambulances if there are shortages.
Rachel Harrison, national secretary at the GMB, which has also announced a second day of strike action on December 28, said: ‘NHS staff have had enough.
‘The last thing they want to do is take strike action, but the Government has left them with no choice. [Health secretary] Steve Barclay needs to listen and engage with us about pay. The Government could stop this strike in a heartbeat – but they need to wake up and start negotiating on pay.’
Tory MP Sir Mike Penning said the workers going on strike were ‘lions being led by dinosaurs’.
He said: ‘Of all the services that shouldn’t be striking, it’s the ambulance staff. They joined the service to save lives, not put them at risk. The unions need to be realistic about what the country can afford to pay them and it’s abhorrent they’re holding people to ransom like this.’
Fellow Conservative MP Bob Stewart said: ‘Putting patient safety at risk and creating this kind of fear that a service people pay taxes for might not be there for them in their hour of need is irresponsible and appalling.’
Unite continues to ballot 10,000 more NHS workers at 38 different employers across England and Wales, with the results expected later this month. The union warned it would extend the strike ballot to even more NHS workers in January as action to improve pay and staffing levels steps up.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that the day of the strike would ‘feel like a weekend or a bank holiday’ but acknowledged the Army could be drafted in.
He said the unions were trying to strike a balance between ensuring emergency care was protected while also making an ‘impact’.
Sara Gorton of Unison said: ‘The Government will only have itself to blame if there are strikes in the NHS before Christmas. Wages are too low to stop health workers quitting the NHS.’ Downing Street said that each additional 1 per cent pay rise for those on ‘Agenda For Change’ contracts – the majority of NHS staff – would cost £700million a year.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are planning to strike on December 15 and 20, with the union demanding a pay rise of 19 per cent.
Miriam Deakin of NHS Providers warned that operations would still probably be disrupted if the RCN cancelled strike action with little notice because of the difficulty of reinstating appointments.
People suffering heart attacks and strokes in some parts of England are already waiting over an hour for an ambulance.
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