Ambulance strike: Warning of very challenging days ahead

Hospitals person been quieter than mean during a time of ambulance strikes, but Thursday is apt to beryllium "very challenging" with tons of patients turning up, wellness bosses say.

Only the astir superior 999 calls person being responded to.

But determination is nary grounds of radical going to A&E successful taxis oregon their ain cars, NHS Providers told the BBC.

Thousands of paramedics, telephone handlers and technicians are taking enactment successful England and Wales until midnight.

Saffron Cordery, interim main enforcement of NHS Providers, which represents infirmary trusts, mental-health trusts and ambulance services successful England, said it was inactive excessively aboriginal to cognize the afloat interaction of the strike, but she said category-one calls - which are life-threatening situations - "had been answered".

And she said she had heard speech of national members "coming disconnected the picket line" to reply those calls.

But she warned of a rebound effect implicit the coming days arsenic ample numbers of radical crook up crossed each parts of the wellness service, making it akin to a time aft a slope holiday.

"Tomorrow and Friday are going to beryllium incredibly hard days crossed the NHS due to the fact that determination is simply a batch of unseen request and hazard retired there," she said.

"People person changed their behaviour today. They've heeded the telephone not to usage services.

"But immoderate volition person chosen not to usage them astatine all, adjacent though they request them."

A spokesperson for West Midlands Ambulance Service - 1 of 9 wherever concern enactment was taking spot successful England - said determination had been a simplification successful calls and unit were grateful to the nationalist for heeding proposal to telephone 999 lone successful life-threatening situations.

Meanwhile, South East Coast and Yorkshire Ambulance Services said they were inactive successful the midst of a captious incidental - a level astatine which determination is an unusually precocious magnitude of unit connected services.

Unions person agreed that ambulance workers volition inactive respond to category-one 999 calls and the astir superior category-two calls (emergencies, including strokes and large burns) during strikes, but determination would beryllium nary warrant of a effect to little urgent calls, specified arsenic falls.

This prompted Health Secretary Stephen Barclay to impeach unions of taking a conscious determination to inflict harm connected patients - an accusation that Unite national person Sharon Graham said was a "blatant lie".

"The unions person negotiated captious cover, including 999 calls, astatine a section level with hosts of NHS trusts. That is however it is done," she said.

People were besides being urged to usage their ain transport oregon instrumentality a taxi to get to hospital, and immoderate hospitals are advising large women precise adjacent to their owed day to marque alternate plans to question there, should they request to.

But Ms Cordery said that "as acold arsenic we tin tell", radical had not been attending A&E successful taxis oregon by their ain vehicles.

Patients who are earnestly sick oregon injured, oregon whose lives are successful danger, are being advised by the NHS to telephone 999.

The strikes travel astatine a clip erstwhile the wellness work is already nether immense pressure.

Lengthy ambulance effect times, agelong delays to manus implicit patients astatine A&E departments, and patients not being discharged rapidly capable from infirmary erstwhile they are acceptable to spell location are creating a 'flow' problem, experts say.

Ambulance waits for calls classed arsenic emergencies person doubled successful 2 years - from an mean of astir 20 minutes to much than 40 minutes. The people is 18 minutes.

There are besides record-high numbers of radical waiting for operations - present 7 cardinal successful England unsocial - an contented that has been made overmuch worse by the Covid pandemic.

Not each unions are striking implicit the aforesaid hours connected Wednesday, and it is hard to accidental however galore employees astatine each idiosyncratic work volition strike.

You tin usage our interactive instrumentality to find retired which unions are connected onslaught astatine your section ambulance service.

Today's onslaught lone involves unit successful England and Wales.

Ambulance workers are demanding a wage emergence supra ostentation which they accidental volition amended morale and assistance forestall staff, faced with rising pressures, from leaving their jobs.

But authorities ministers accidental astir ambulance unit person received a wage emergence of astatine slightest 4%, taking mean net to £47,000. A further wage summation would mean taking wealth from frontline services, they added.

In Scotland, 2 large wellness unions - Unison and Unite - antecedently called disconnected ambulance onslaught enactment pursuing wage talks.

The GMB national voted to cull a wage woody from the Scottish authorities - but it is not striking determination contiguous due to the fact that it's inactive considering its adjacent steps, and it says it hopes onslaught enactment volition not beryllium necessary.

Northern Ireland's ambulance work held a 24-hour onslaught connected 12 December.