Ambulance workers have announced a series of new strikes, including one next month which has already been predicted to be the biggest day of stoppages in NHS history.
Any new dates announced by Unite in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will coincide with strikes already outlined by the GMB union, which also represents ambulance staff. These include February 6, when up to 40,000 nurses from the Royal College of Nursing will also strike in what is shaping up to be a day of mass disruption to health services.
There are fears that services could stop with non-urgent operations being canceled to help emergency departments deal with staff absences.
Before Unite ambulance workers joined the action, Saffron Corddry, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “This could be the biggest day of industrial action the NHS has ever seen.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said measures would be taken to protect patient safety.
Speaking to the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast, she said: “No one wants lives to be lost. And we’re really careful, regardless of the lies…said by some ministers…that we’ve had adequate minimum coverage, because that’s something that’s really important to us. But I have to say that there are lives lost now and something needs to be done.
Unite ambulance workers will now walk out next Monday as the dispute with the government remains deadlocked.
Graham added in a statement: “Rather than act to protect the NHS and negotiate an end to the dispute, the Government has disgracefully chosen to demonize ambulance workers.
“Ministers are deliberately misleading the public about life and limb cover and who is to blame for the excessive number of deaths. Our members faithfully provide protection for life and limb on strike days and non-unions do not provide minimum levels of service.
“This Government’s disastrous treatment of the NHS is what has brought it to breaking point and as crisis piles on, the Prime Minister is seen washing his hands of the controversy.” What a shame. What an abdication of leadership.”
The newly announced strike action will involve Unite members in the North West, North East, East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Unite said that, as with previous strikes, its representatives would work at a regional level to agree derogations to provide emergency cover for “life and limb” during the action.
Other derogations will ensure that patients needing life-saving treatment, such as kidney care and cancer treatment, are transported to their appointments, the union said.
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A Unite official, Onay Kasab, said: “The resolution of this dispute is in the hands of the government. This dispute will only be resolved when appropriate negotiations are entered into regarding the ongoing pay dispute.
“The government’s continued attempts to end the road and its talk of one-off payments or slightly increased remuneration in the future are simply not good enough to resolve this dispute.”
Unite has given details of when its members, employed by various ambulance trusts, will strike.
West Midlands: 6 and 17 February and 6 and 20 March. Northeast: February 6 and 20 and March 6 and 20. East Midlands: 6 and 20 February and 6 and 20 March. Wales: 6 and 20 February and 6 and 20 March. Northwest: February 6 and 22 and March 6 and March 20. Northern Ireland: 26 January and 16, 17, 23 and 24 February.
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Ambulance workers do an amazing job and it is disappointing that some union members are going ahead with further strikes when the NHS is already under huge pressure.”
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