Astonishing moment union chief claims it will be the GOVERNMENT’S fault if people DIE during paramedics’ strikes… after NHS bosses begged Sunak to agree 11th-hour deal to stop catastrophic 999 walkouts
- Up to 10,000 ambulance staff will strike on Wednesday in a dispute over pay
- A union boss said it will be the government’s fault if people die during the strike
- Unison general secretary Christina McAnea called on ministers to negotiate
- The government has so far refused to negotiate with the ambulance workers
A union boss has claimed the government will be responsible if people die during a strike by paramedics and accused ministers of refusing to negotiate with union leaders for a pay deal, after NHS bosses called on Rishi Sunak to strike a last-minute deal.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said she wanted today’s strike by up to 10,000 ambulance staff to be a wake-up call to the government.
Speaking last night, she told TalkTV: ‘I genuinely hope that when the government realise just how serious it is tomorrow when we take strike action that actually they will think twice about it and they’ll say “ok let’s come back and talk about this.
‘My advice to them would be don’t dig yourself into a hole that you can’t get out of.’
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea accused the government of being ‘totally irresponsible’ by refusing to negotiate with striking ambulance workers
The army has been called in to provide cover for the ambulance service during the strike
She added: ‘Long before the strike, all the stories were around about people waiting hours for an ambulance or being told to get themselves to hospital, or ambulances sitting outside hospitals for hours on end and patients dying in the ambulances because they can’t get to A&E.
‘So that’s got nothing to do with the strike, and the alternative is we just let that continue to happen and continue to build up.
‘I’m incredibly worried about what might happen, but we’ve done everything we can to put safety measures in place.’
Host Tom Newton-Dunn then asked her: ‘If people die, whose fault is it tomorrow?’
Ms McAnea replied: ‘Absolutely the government’s – they’ve been totally irresponsible. The onyl time they called me in for a meeting was today, the day before the strikes.
‘It’s completely irresponsible of them to refuse to open any sort of discussions or negotiations with us.’
Paramedics, control room workers, and technicians are downing tools at nine of England’s ten ambulance trusts
Last night, NHS chiefs warned they will not be able to keep all patients safe during today’s strike.
They wrote to Rishi Sunak begging him to agree an 11th hour pay deal – and stop the catastrophic walkouts.
‘We have entered dangerous territory,’ said Matthew Taylor of the NHS Confederation employers group.
Paramedics, control room workers, and technicians are downing tools at nine of England’s ten ambulance trusts.
Eight of them declared critical incidents yesterday amid ‘extreme pressure’ – even before the strikes.
Response times in some regions were three times longer than normal limits.
Trusts were crippled by a barrage of 999 calls and delays offloading patients at hospitals.
Sources say that terrified NHS managers expect a ‘s***show’ today, with the sick missing out on care and lives potentially being lost.
Unions have agreed to respond to immediately life-threatening ‘category one’ incidents, such as when a patient’s heart stops or they are not breathing.
But some paramedics are expected to refuse to attend lower category calls, including where a pensioner falls. In other developments:
- The public were warned against ‘risky’ activity such as getting drunk, contact sport, jogging on icy pavements and unnecessary car journeys during today’s strike;
- The leader of the nursing union indicated she was prepared to reach a deal on pay in a separate dispute – but threatened fresh walkouts unless ministers held wage talks with her;
- Train drivers from the Aslef union announced a strike on January 5, which will come between two 48-hour walkouts by the RMT;
- A new YouGov poll suggested support for the rail strikes was fading but nurses were winning the battle for public opinion.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, yesterday urged the public to take ‘sensible steps’ to avoid ending up in A&E, and health minister Will Quince advised against ‘risky activity’.
The three unions representing ambulance staff – GMB, Unite and Unison – threatened to escalate their industrial action after talks with Health Secretary Steve Barclay ended without a breakthrough yesterday lunchtime.
The Government is refusing to renegotiate their pay rise of around 4 per cent, which was recommended by the independent pay review body.
Speaking to MPs at the Commons liaison committee yesterday, Mr Sunak insisted he was standing by the recommendation, which he said had taken into account ‘forward estimates of inflation’.
But Mr Taylor last night wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to end the dispute with the unions quickly and to ‘be prepared to negotiate on the substantive issue of pay awards’.
The letter added: ‘With less than 24 hours to go to the ambulance strike, there is now deep worry among NHS leaders about the level of harm and risk that could occur to patients tomorrow and beyond.’
He said it was rare to hear ‘such strong and urgent expressions of concern’ from leaders running hospitals, ambulance services and other vital health services.
Speaking earlier to BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, Mr Taylor said: ‘We never want to alarm people but we have reached the stage where our leaders feel it’s necessary to say they cannot guarantee patient safety, they cannot avoid risks as these strikes unfold.
‘We are particularly concerned about the ambulance workers’ strike tomorrow but we’re concerned about the possibility of further strikes.
We need to make clear that we’re entering into a very dangerous time and this is why we’re upping even more our call to the Government and to the trade unions to try to find a way of solving this dispute.’
The NHS is expected to rely on the military and police to drive ambulances while also booking taxis to transport some patients to hospital.
But troops are expected to provide support on non- life-threatening calls only.
South Central Ambulance Service yesterday said it was receiving 50 per cent more 999 calls this year than last, while 111 calls were up by 75 per cent.
Dr John Martin, president of the College of Paramedics, said patients were already experiencing long delays and this would probably worsen today.
Speaking after the talks with Mr Barclay ended, Onay Kasab of Unite, said: ‘The Government have got to engage on pay because these strikes will escalate otherwise, that is the reality.’
Mr Barclay said: ‘Our ambulance staff are incredibly dedicated to their job and it is deeply regrettable some union members are going ahead with strike action. My priority is to keep patients safe.
‘The Government and NHS colleagues have been working to protect safe staffing levels.’
Some trust managers will have to plead with staff to leave picket lines and respond to category two calls on a case by case basis, which is likely to cause additional delays.
The three unions represent around 25,000 ambulance workers, with around 10,000 expected to walk out over a 24-hour period.
A Department of Health source said: ‘Strike action will have a significant impact on ambulance services and put patients at risk.’
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