A Tory Health Minister has urged Brits not to engage in "risky activity" during ambulance strikes - as the Government continues to block pay talks.
Will Quince said he strongly encouraged people not to take risks during Wednesday's walkouts by emergency crews as there would be major disruption to service.
He failed to expand on what he meant by this - nor admit that ambulance callouts often relate to illnesses like heart attacks and strokes rather than injuries.
More than 10,000 ambulance workers from Unite, GMB and Unison unions, including paramedics, control room workers and technicians, will go on strike in England and Wales on Wednesday.
It comes as tens of thousands of nurses down tools today for their second day of nationwide industrial action.
But the Government continues to resist calls from union leaders to avert the strikes by getting round the table to discuss pay.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay is due to meet ambulance unions today for eleventh hour talks but he still won't discuss wage increases.
Ambulances are still expected to respond to life threatening 999 calls, such as heart attacks and strokes.
But taxis will be used to ferry patients to hospital with less urgent health concerns, the Government has previously admitted.
Today, Mr Quince said he was "concerned" about the action and encouraged people not to take part in "risky activity" on Wednesday, due to the scale of the disruption.
"Where people are planning any risky activity, I would strongly encourage them not to do so," he told BBC Breakfast.
He said anyone with chest pains should call 999, but anyone with a non life-threatening concern should contact NHS 111.
He told the Today programme: "If you have chest pains, call 999 and the expectation is, and I've been really clear with you, I don't think that there is any paramedic, ambulance technician, anyone working in our NHS, whether they're on a picket line or not, that would not respond to a 999 call where somebody has chest pains and there is a threat of a heart attack.
"Call 999, a clinician will assess that call and then consider the appropriate action whether that's an ambulance, whether it's community services, whether it's NHS 111."
Some 750 troops are being drafted in to assist during the strikes - but they won't be able to run red lights or break the speed limit.
Unions have branded the move a "desperate measure", warning the servicemen and women are not "sufficiently trained" to plug staffing gaps on the front line, while the Chief of the Defence Staff has said the armed forces should not be treated as "spare capacity".
Unions are calling for improved pay offers for hard-working staff, after the Government offered below inflation wage hikes to NHS workers.
The Royal College of Nursing has called for 5% above inflation increases, while other unions have not put a figure on their demands.
Ambulance workers could escalate strike action in the New Year if the Government fails to get round the negotiating table over pay.
Unison’s Head of Health Sarah Gorton said it looked “inevitable” that the bitter pay dispute would run on - and unions could look to synchronise further walkouts to pile pressure on ministers.
She said the union had been warning about the risk of strike action from ambulance staff since July but the Government had ignored them until the eleventh hour.
Ms Gorton said: “This has been five months, five months of the Government stubbornly refusing to talk about this and then at the 11th hour, looking to deflect their own inaction onto ‘aren’t the unions terrible, isn't this a terrible risk for patient safety?’
“Of course it is a risk and that's why it’s so serious, that is why we have been after the government to talk to us for so many months.”
She warned there was “significant potential for escalation in the New Year” as Unison have restricted their walkout to ambulance road crews and set a 12 hour limit on it.
“We really, really hope that tomorrow's action could be called off with a commitment to boost pay and hold serious and genuine talks with unions,” she said.
“But if tomorrow goes ahead, then it looks likely that there will be further escalation in the New Year.”
She added: “It may be the case that unions synchronise rather than coordinate because we're looking at a very lengthy dispute. I would love to say that this is you know that the action tomorrow and the fact that we've got three unions in the ambulance service, who are all coming out at the same time would give a signal of how serious this could become if it escalates next year.”
Unison General Secretary Christina McAnea was due to meet Health Secretary Steve Barclay for last ditch talks on Wednesday.
The pair last spoke briefly “five or six weeks” ago after bumping into each other at the same hospital.
Ms McAnea said it was “not impossible” to resolve the dispute before the New Year but it was unlikely unless Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had a “complete change of heart and suddenly finds all this money down the back of the sofa to pay ambulance staff”.
She said the situation with staffing was so bad that she wasn’t confident that one of her loved ones would get an ambulance even on a non-strike day.
Yet Rishi Sunak did not discuss strikes at all today in his final Cabinet meeting of the year - instead focusing on preparation for the King’s coronation in May.
No10 also confirmed the PM has not chaired a single COBRA meetings on the industrial action and has not joined talks with unions
And Downing Street refused to say which “risky activities” people should avoid - saying: “I’m not going to get into a list”.
The PM’s spokesman said people should dial 999 in a “life-threatening emergency” but “for non life threatening calls, alternatives will be available via NHS 111.”
He refused to say if people should avoid a home birth, going for a run on an icy road, or even eating a Scotch egg due to the choking risk.
He said “clearly the purpose” of strikes “is to cause disruption to the healthcare that is provided… that will be worrying to the public.”
Yet he said “we don't plan to revisit the recommendations" of pay review bodies, which put forward a rise of just 4.75% for nurses.
It came as a YouGov poll found 56% blame the government for the nurses’ strike and 66% support the industrial action.
The poll also found 63% back ambulance staff going on strike, 58% support firefighters and 43% rail workers.
