Ambulance workers in Harrogate say they are at "breaking point"

Yorkshire ambulance workers have been on strike today saying they no longer feel like they can keep patients safe. Thousands of union members across the country have walked out in a row which is also about pay.

"No one wants to strike, but we are at breaking point"

Gareth has been on the picket line in Harrogate and says in his 17 years as a paramedic he has never known pressure like it: "Missed breaks, prolonged periods of driving because we are out of area, overruns at hospital where you are two or three hours late off because you are just sat in hospital and it's shift after shift after shift."

As well as concerns over staffing levels workers are also striking over pay. Gareth says: "I know of colleagues who have to use foodbanks, that shouldn't have to be a situation we are in. You work all night, you are up all night and then you have to go to a foodbank to feed your family."

"This isn't what we became into the profession for, patients deserve more"

Another paramedic on the picket line told us: "It's constant calls, no breaks, we'll start say 6o'clock in the morning, we'll work a 12 hour shift and then we'll be at hospital, maybe York hospital, queuing with a patient who is really quite poorly. We all joined the ambulance service to help and preserve life, but we are not able to do that, we're being faced with people who are in really bad states, because they've had to wait so long."

In a statement Yorkshire Ambulance service say: 'Whilst we recognise and respect individuals’ legal right to participate in industrial action, our priority remains ensuring that patient and staff safety, welfare, dignity, and respect are maintained. Yorkshire Ambulance Service has put a number of contingency plans in place to allow it to respond to high acuity life-threatening and very serious cases during the strike.

Discussions between trade unions and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service senior management team have now concluded and derogations (also known as exemptions) have been agreed. For our emergency ambulance service, this includes responding to calls where someone is in a life-threatening condition.'

Nick Smith, Executive Director of Operations at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said:

“With continued operational pressures and the added challenge of industrial action, we will have less resources available to respond. Services will be severely disrupted, with the likelihood of significant delays.

“So, we are urging the public to use the emergency ambulance service more wisely and only to call 999 when someone is in a life-threatening or very serious condition as we prioritise our response to those most in need."

The Government's Health Secretary Steve Barclay has accused trade unions of choosing a time for the strike when the NHS is already facing winter pressures due to flu, COVID and other illnesses. He says he thinks ambulance workers striking in England and Wales are making a "conscious decision" to "inflict harm" on patients.

He also says a pay rise being offered to staff was suggested by an independent panel and they agreed to those terms.

But unions argue that was before the jump in inflation.

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