Striking ambulance workers today urged the Government to give staff a pay rise and better working conditions, saying the service was at “breaking point”. On a picket line in Coventry, striking paramedics and union leaders accused the Government of “criminal negligence”, saying the Tories had "hollowed out" the NHS.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay was also personally accused of "holding the country to ransom" by Unite leader Sharon Graham who joined the striking workers. Outside Coventry Ambulance Headquarters, paramedic Ryan Carruthers, 23, said he earns £24,000-a-year after joining West Midlands Ambulance Service in April.
He said: “I am striking for fair pay and better working conditions for both our staff and the patients. We work 12-hour shifts and work two days, two nights and then have four days off. The days are very busy and we see so many patients.
“It’s a lot of stress and we get many people angry with us when we don’t show up on time but it’s not our fault. We have to wait so long in long queues at the hospitals to get our patients seen and it is not fair on them.
“By striking we hope to retain more staff in the ambulance service by getting better working conditions. We want to get our patients seen quicker. Lots of people are leaving the services because of the working conditions.
“The longest I’ve had to wait on the back of the ambulance getting a patient into hospital is eight hours but I know some of my crew have spent whole shifts just waiting in queues for their patients to be seen. Last night there had been crews in Worcester in queues for 3,000 minutes waiting for their patients to be seen.
“On social media there have been a lot of negative views about why we’re standing on the picket line, but we are not just fighting for pay we are fighting for better working conditions for the people. The higher our moral is the more likely paramedics are going to want to stay in the service for and be there for people in need.”
Also in Coventry was Jenny Withall, 32, who had been a paramedic since 2016. She joined colleagues on the picket line for two hours before returning to work when a 999 call came through.
Before crossing the picket line, she said: “I am striking to try and sort the NHS out and help people out there struggling that we are just not getting too because of the working conditions. We are holding at hospitals for hours and hours with patients that should be inside getting the treatment they deserve, but it is just a backlog.
“The NHS is at breaking point and I don’t know how it is going to get better. It’s horrible when there are patients who are struggling and you can’t help. The toll is difficult on us and very draining
“Sitting for four and five hours waiting outside a hospital is not good for us or our patients. The pay rise would help sort these problems but it is not so much the pay for me, it’s trying to sort out the NHS. If we did achieve our goals it would benefit everyone.
“Everyone is supporting everyone in the strike whether they are stood on the picket line or working, we are all standing together and in it as a team.”
Ambulance Technician Mike Smith, 51, has worked for the West Midlands Ambulance Service for 13 years and earns £40,000-a-year. Mike also returned to work to help a category one emergency.
He said: “It’s not just about pay. There are patients out there waiting for an ambulance to turn up for hours and we’re stuck at hospitals and can’t get out to them. The hospitals are bed blocked because they can’t get their elderly patients out because there is not enough care home and care staff.
“There is not enough funding in the NHS and I want the government to put more funding in. There isn’t enough and social service are being cut. If we were able to achieve our goals it would mean everything for our patients.
“It would mean we wouldn’t be stuck at a hospital for six or seven hours on end waiting to off load our patients and would mean we could start seeing more patients. The NHS is practically at a breaking point and someone out there is not looking at it properly.
“They need to look at the whole system, not just the ambulance services and nurses – everyone is struggling. It’s all understaffed and underfunded and it needs more money. I am working today and we’re going out to category one life threatening jobs.
“But, that is not what we are always going out too. We have to do jobs the should go GPs but they are understaffed to so we are having to take on the work. The country is getting more and more elderly people and we need more resources to compensate and that is not what we have at the moment.
“It’s draining. When you go home and know there are patients out there that you couldn’t get too. It’s difficult to talk about sometimes. When you get to jobs with some elderly people, they have been waiting for 12 hours on the floor after falling over.
“We don’t know about this because we are just given one job at a time. But when you turn up to the job and find out this information, it’s awful to hear. No one should have to wait 12 hours for treatment.”
Student paramedic Thomas Moore, 22, earns £19,000-a-year before he qualifies to become a paramedic next year. He also crossed the picket line when a 999 call came in at around 9am.
Before leaving the picket line, he said: “I am striking because the patients are being put at risk. We need help and we are going to calls that are two or three days old and it is not good enough. You feel rubbish and helpless when you can’t get to these patients on time.
“We are always playing catch up and you feel rubbish when you can’t respond to the patients effectively and there is no stand by time – so no time for training or to educate ourselves. I started my training in May 2021 and I the situation has definitely got worse. You speak to some of the people that have worked in the services for 10 or 20 years and they remember being able to get to patients effectively and we just can’t do that.”
Unite leader Sharon Graham joined striking workers on the picket line in Coventry. She said: "This government is guilty of criminal negligence in its hollowing out of the NHS long before now. The strikers are actually trying to save the service.
“The Government has had months to intervene and end this dispute. They chose not to. It’s Steven Barclay who is holding the country to ransom, not the unions. He will have to carry the can if patients suffer. The shocking statistics from West Midlands Ambulance Trust tell the real story.
"Where were the government’s ‘well-rehearsed contingency plans’ when people were dying in the West Midlands because the crisis in the ambulance service meant an ambulance couldn’t get to them on time?"
More than 1,600 workers at the West Midlands, North West and North East ambulance service trusts are on a 24-hour stoppage. Unite’s ambulance workers voted by up to 92 per cent for strike action.
