Ambulance strike is disgraceful?

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I just read this on bbc news, "Unions say life-threatening callouts will continue to be responded to over the next 24 hours but some urgent calls, for example for late-stage labour or a fall in the home, might not be answered."

Is it just me who thinks this is disgraceful?

Late stage labour at home or an elderly person laying with a broken hip ARE emergencies! I'm not sure how people in a caring profession can strike knowing these calls will go unanswered.

The unions talk about the backlog, paramedics stuck outside hospitals in ambulances unable to unload and go back out on the road but then admit they are striking for more pay rather than as a protest about that. The average salary of ambulance staff of £47,000 and a 4% pay rise isn't enough they claim but if they are given a pay rise, they will stop striking.

I think they do deserve more money (we all do with inflation) but I can't get past them supposedly being in a caring profession but taking steps that WILL cause extra deaths regardless.

I work in the private sector and have had zero pay rise. If I went on strike nobody would die and I'd be fired. This approach is abusing the critical position of their roles. I hope they are not given a pay rise as it will just demonstrate that blackmail works to other public sector workers and we will have even more strikes.

YABU = I support them striking
YANBU = I agree, it's disgraceful behaviour from a caring profession

You obviously know nothing about frontline NHS. People are already dying, cat 2s regularly go unanswered, a strike in May would be no less impactful then it is now. People already die every day that could be saved, be angry about that not at the paramedics.

Which warnings were these? The ones where people kept voting them into power. Don't tell me those people aren't on this thread.

The only reason unions can call a strike is over "pay and conditions" (and only then if a significant number of union members vote to strike).

Its actually pay or conditions. Read the fucking law. Pay doesn’t even have to come into it. The fact that it has and at a whopping 19% (original ask was for 17% then the Gov offered 7.8% and they went bigger to 19%) means it’s mostly about pay. And they all lost all credibility about striking for “patient safety” by leaving patients to quite literally die due to lack of an ambulance and medical care.

It’s disgusting, the rest of us are suffering from the cost of living crisis. 50% of us cancelled Christmas, tons are going to food banks and warm spaces. They’re not the only ones struggling to make ends meet. It’s just that the rest of us don’t have people whose lives we can hold hostage to get more money from the government in ransom for.

YANBU. The strike is disgraceful. The whole NHS has gone to shit, you can’t even get a Dr appointment at a local GP surgery for weeks on end. There are too many managers in the NHS and it is very very poorly run with zero accountability. Yes they deserve a pay rise, we all do, but you cannot put lives at risk and hold the general public to ransom.
Also all these strikes are coordinated to have maximum impact on the public and overthrow the government, the unions are the biggest Labour Party donors!!

YABU. My DS is a paramedic and so is his DW. On his birthday, 2 minutes before his shift ended he had a call out. He arrived home 2.5 hours later, birthday dinner a bit dry (a quick call home saved it from being burnt offerings). He has very little social life because he can't guarantee he'll be able to be "on time" to meet friends. If it's something "important" he takes annual leave to guarantee he'll be there. Don't get me wrong he loves his job but this was not a one off it happens very regularly.
If your boss made you stay at work for an extra 2 hours, at least 3 times a week, how happy would you be?

Why are children with Strep A getting ambulances, surely they should be taken in a car or taxi or do people want a free ride.

katypp the nurses in scubu and other highly skilled highly stressful where life and death can turn in minutes get paid the same rate as other nurses.
You obvs have never worked as a nurse if you think nursing care is just checking stuff. I’ve watched two nurses work on tiny babies one on either side of an incubator , the skill concentration and dedication required was immense but yeah they just check stuff… eye roll

Not that that is the average, but I earn more than that (freelance) for working from home in a way that fits around school hours. It’s frankly embarrassing how low earnings are for frontline public service workers - and not surprising that there are skills shortages throughout. I applaud them all for taking action that is clearly aimed at improving standards and recruitment as well as pay.

I don’t know what the government is thinking. No sanction for Truss/Kwarteng who lost £30bn that could have given the public sector pay rises, but instead some kind of ideological war on the unions. I’m sure we all want nurses and paramedics to be well paid - and they will have to be if they are to be able to recruit. Who’d sign up now?

It will be far worse for all the public if we keep haemorrhaging healthcare workers. Unless you're planning on paying for private emergency care?

Something has to be done to make the pay and conditions more attractive for new recruitment and retention.

This view is so incredibly short sighted and ignorant to how many people are dying everyday due to lack of services. Stroke days will be better staffed by others being drafted in.

Absolutely agree, average 47k my arse.

To the OP, the whole point of the strikes is not just pay but the appalling working conditions of NHS staff and the fact that the government has relied on their goodwill for far too long.

DD is registered NHS clinical but not a nurse. Her average scheduled weeks are between 50-60 hours every single week due to staff shortages and funding. Her contracted hours are 37.5. She gets abused and assaulted regularly, works most weekends and 12 hour days. She like many others are absolutely on their knees. Something has to give.

it just did.

Where do you stand on the issue of MPs' pay increases?

YABU, even without the strike there are already elderly people who have had falls and whose calls are not being answered. In fact there is currently a thread on it.

This is why they are striking, because it’s already got so so very bad. And for that you should redirect your anger at the government.

to those saying the strikers are committing manslaughter, I say if you voted conservative then you’re guilty of manslaughter. Not the strikers, you. I deeply hope you’re all ashamed.

Yes isn't just the one claiming to be a social worker who hadn't received a payrise in five years rubbish!!
Ambulance crew do not have an average wage of £47k. You obviously have no real clue why staff are striking go and research it instead of spouting your nonsense on here.
Yes YABVVVU.

It will be more likely that a loved one will die tomorrow or yesterday. Aren't you listening? You seem really really ignorant on this.

Agree with you. Look around there’s an awful lot of wealth in this country. A lot of it not earned by hard work or contribution to society.

YABU

As I understand it, one of the problems is recruitment and retention. Because there are n´t enough nurses and paramedics, the job is hugely pressured for those that stay because there are not enough staff to safely run the service. So one of the ways to improve things is to improve pay as this will encourage more people to stay and join, which will then improve staffing levels and make things betterfor those already there. So, it´s not just "we want more pay" (and why the fuck wouldn´t they, their pay has gone down in real terms), but as a way to improve the service overall.

I don’t care how bad conditions and pay are…you don’t decide that someone else’s child or partner or parent is going to be left to die do you can get better pay and conditions.

I presume you’re currently retraining to work in the NHS then? There’s thousands of vacancies which mean people are currently getting substandard care. In fact, surely those who are trying the “you mustn’t let people die” argument are either already working in emergency services or training to do so. Because otherwise you yourself are putting your current pay and conditions ahead of the hundreds of patients you could save if you retrained.

Essential workers have had enough of being emotionally blackmailed. I don’t blame them one bit.

Strike in the summer
Answer cat 2 calls so people don't die in the process

and yes the strike is disgusting! Absolutely. Striking paramedics ignoring cat 2 calls to further their paychecks....you decide....

We have Mick Lynch a gangster for all intents and purposes, the school bully boy forcing a 19% pay increase using people's lives as blackmail.

We have Pat bloody Cullen - a trunchball with low intellect and with no idea of what compromise might mean, or any serious position.

How on earth have we ended up with those two half wits playing Russian Roulette for kicks. They are going to totally ruin our country.

YABVU, if anything happens to my family it will be the Government that I hold responsible not the ambulance staff.

YABU I'm a healthcare professional (no longer practising as it was an awful existence). Stuck for 10 years at top of a pay band due to the party freeze. Even 7 years ago when I left the NHS conditions were unsafe and awful and it's worse now. I part due to pay and conditions but also due to the abuse of NHS services by the general public, calling ambulances a sore knee, refusing do anything to help themselves etc.

You realise there aren't enough GPs to meet demand now... because of poor pay and conditions?
GPs aren't striking they're quitting, So now we don't have enough.

Isn't that what people want paramedics and nurses to do to? Just quit the profession instead of striking?

These are from the last 36 hours before the strike began -

news.sky.com/story/amp/ambulance-service-faces-immense-pressures-as-critical-incident-declared-across-the-country-12771710

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/ambulance-critical-incidents-strikes-latest-b2248811.html?amp

twitter.com/neambulance/status/1604895317584973840?s=46&t=MODIn5_sn0ePyzgH7-yjNw