Unite members vote to strike at Welsh Ambulance Service

This week, the Welsh Ambulance Service has seen members of the RCN and GMB walk out due to concerns over pay and cuts to the service.

And now, paramedics, EMTs and emergency call handling staff who are part of the Unite union have voted in favour of industrial action.

When balloted, 88 per cent of Unite Welsh Ambulance Service staff voted in favour of a strike, the dates of which are yet to be confirmed.

Members reported that where they once saw 10 patients a day, often they can now deal with only one per shift, spending hours and even whole days at a time sitting outside A&E with patients waiting to be seen.

• READ MORE: Who is on strike and how it will affect you in the lead up to Christmas?

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s ambulance service members in Wales are striking because they see first-hand every day how the NHS is collapsing.

“They are dedicated life-saving professionals and are taking this step because they know the NHS itself needs saving. 

“The Welsh Government must put a better offer on the table to help resolve the recruitment and retention crisis that is crippling the service.

“But it is also incumbent on the Conservative government in Westminster, who hold the ultimate responsibility for the years of destruction inflicted on the NHS, to meet with heath unions and urgently address staffing and pay levels.”

• READ MORE: Ambulance worker says waits to drop patients at The Grange are ‘soul destroying’.

The announcement comes on the day the latest NHS Wales performance figures were released, showing that 48 per cent of emergency responses to immediately life threatening (red) calls in November arrived within the target time of eight minutes – the joint lowest on record.

In November, about 34,850 emergency calls were made to the ambulance service - an average of 1,162 calls per day – of which an average of 153 per day were red calls.

Unite said pay cuts and crippling service pressures have led to issues in NHS recruitment and retention, with nearly one in 10 posts – 132,000 positions – now vacant.

Unite regional officer Richard Munn said: “The last thing our Welsh Ambulance Service workers want to do is strike. But they know they have to take a stand to prevent the NHS from total collapse.

“As with all NHS strikes, life and limb cover will be provided and ambulance workers will stand ready on the picket line to respond to calls if they are needed.”