Ambulance crews are on strike today, Wednesday, in the largest mobilization of the sector in four decades.
London, Thanasis Gavos
Britain’s NHS chiefs are raising concerns about the adequacy of services to citizens as ambulance crews strike on Wednesday, the biggest strike in the sector in four decades.
Many local hospital and ambulance service authorities have declared “critical incidents” due to the “sustained and unprecedented” strain on services. This move allows priority to be given to the most seriously ill or injured.
About 600 members of the armed forces were being trained until Tuesday to be able to take over driving ambulances during the strike.
The ambulance strike follows a nursing strike on Tuesday, the second in as many days.
The NHS Confederation which represents service providers to public hospitals said in a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that hospitals cannot guarantee patient safety.
NHS chiefs are urging people to ‘drink responsibly’ to avoid accidents.
Deputy Health Minister Will Queens urged citizens to avoid any “risky” activity. As risky activities, he indicated running on icy surfaces and contact sports.
Mr Queens also said it was “important that people do not call for an ambulance unless their condition is life-threatening”.
NHS chief Sir Stephen Powis said the health system was “undoubtedly already under extreme pressure”, urging the public to use health services “judiciously”. As he explained, if someone calls an ambulance without it being literally a life-or-death situation, they may have to wait longer than usual.
This concern comes while the response times of ambulances are already falling significantly short of targets.
On Tuesday, the case of 93-year-old Elizabeth Davis, who had to wait 25 hours for an ambulance at her home in Bangor, Wales in excruciating pain after breaking her hip after a fall, became known. When she arrived at the local hospital she had to wait another 12 hours before her admission was completed.
The strike across England and Wales involves ambulance drivers, paramedic crews, service control center workers and technical staff.
The strike is being coordinated by three unions representing the different specialties of the ambulance service with a demand for higher increases due to high inflation. The government has offered increases of around 4% with inflation close to 11%.
The Department of Health says 4% of the increases were the recommendation of an independent public sector workers’ compensation body, but unions argue the government is not bound by the recommendation and has the discretion to offer higher increases.
Appearing before a joint parliamentary committee on Tuesday, Mr Sunak dismissed the possibility of further increases amid fears of further stoking inflationary pressures. “We have to make sure that the decisions we make can bring inflation down as quickly as possible, because if we get it wrong and we’re still facing high inflation in a year, that’s not going to help anyone,” the British prime minister said.
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