Ambulance Staff & Nurses Join Biggest Strike In NHS’s History

Staff at East Midlands Ambulance Service and nurses at Kettering General Hospital have joined the biggest strike in the health service’s history.

They have joined picket lines, along with colleagues up and down the country, as an on-going row with the government over pay and conditions continues.

EMAS is warning response times to patients will be slower today, but unions say life-threatening calls will still be responded to.

Ben Holdaway, Director of Operations, said: “Previous industrial action days at EMAS have been immensely challenging, and we expect the same again.

“We continue to work closely with trade union colleagues, and NHS and blue-light service providers across the region to do all we can to minimise the impact on patient safety. However, we anticipate that during action there will be fewer ambulances available and therefore our response to our patients will, inevitably, be much slower on the day.

“During industrial action we will continue to carefully assess and prioritise an ambulance response for those who need it most.

“It is important that the public use services wisely and make their own way to a treatment centre or hospital if safe to do so; this allows us to send our ambulances with life-saving equipment and clinicians on board to people who really need them.”