TOMORROW, London ambulance staff are set to go on strike for the second time since December. Accordingly, the plea from the head of the London Ambulance Service, Daniel Elkeles, is that we should only call an ambulance in a “life or limb-threatening emergency”. That is sensible advice. Indeed, most of us would not think of calling an ambulance except in an emergency. Mr Elkeles is not suggesting that elderly people who have a fall or a cyclist who has an accident should somehow get to hospital by taxi. There will be fewer ambulances and we must be responsible in calling them out.
Ambulance drivers and paramedics have some of the most challenging roles within the health service. They deal with people in the worst circumstances and often in acute pain, they sometimes are abused when they turn up to the scene of an emergency, they are not well paid given the demands of their job and they worked tirelessly during the pandemic.
