London Ambulance workers are taking part in strikes today (January 23) because they are “genuinely concerned for public safety”, staff have said from the picket lines.
Workers are warning that patients are suffering because staff are “leaving in droves” due to poor pay and conditions.
They warned of patients dying “all the time” because emergency workers cannot get to them or they are not getting treatment in a timely fashion.
Speaking at a Unison picket line at the London Ambulance Service headquarters in Waterloo, motorcycle paramedic Richard Kingham, told news agency PA: “In my job, I am waiting with very sick people for help to come for much longer than usual.
“If you’re with someone who’s having a heart attack and you can’t get them to the hospital because there is no ambulance to send, then that is very, very scary.”
Unison union head of health Sara Gorton said staff are out on icy picket lines because their jobs have been “compromised on a day-to-day basis”.
“Unfortunately, on a strike day it does mean that the services are impacted – strikes have to have an impact in order for them to be taken seriously,” she told BBC Breakfast.
READ MORE: When should you call 999? What to do if you're unsure but need urgent medical help
“And that’s why it’s been such a difficult decision for lots of those people to vote for strike action, to take it.
“And it’s why it’s so frustrating that, after two days of strike action and some positive progress, the Government hasn’t done what they need to do in order to get the strikes called off – which is to commit to putting extra funding in and to sit down and start formal talks.
“Ultimately none of those people that are out on strike wants to be there – they want to be doing the jobs that they love, and those jobs have just been compromised on a day-to-day basis.”
All the services involved in the strikes have an emergency cover which, “as a rule of thumb”, will see all life-threatening incidents – also known as category 1 calls – responded to, Ms Gorton said.
Category 2 calls, which can include heart attacks and strokes, will be assessed and if there is a “risk to life and limb” ambulance staff will leave picket lines to respond.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here