New ambulance strikes loom in West Midlands as talks fail
Ambulance staff are again preparing to walk out on strike after new figures reveal the region’s ongoing GP shortage.
Paramedics and emergency control workers are expected to walk out tomorrow in the latest action over pay and conditions.
The action by the GMB union means some 999 calls to West Midlands Ambulance Service may not be responded to. Further strikes are planned for January 23, with a walkout by Unison and Unite.
It comes as figures reveal there are fewer GPs available to help patients in the West Midlands than 12 months ago. The fall comes despite a Government pledge to recruit thousands nationally by 2025.
The bitter dispute between NHS workers and the Government looks set to continue after talks were branded “bitterly disappointing” and an “insult”.
Both the Royal College of Nursing and Unite criticised the meeting with Health Secretary Steve Barclay, held in Westminster. They accused ministers of “intransigence” and saying there was “no resolution in sight” to the industrial action.
WMAS Emergency Services Operations Delivery Director, Nathan Hudson, said: “We have had productive discussions with our staffside colleagues to agree that ambulances will respond to the most urgent calls such as cardiac arrests and where a crew requests immediate back up at the scene of a case. Also other life-threatening cases such as heart attacks, strokes, difficulty in breathing and maternity cases.”
