Ambulance strike is disgraceful?

[somethingdifferenttoday]

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

YABU Refusing to negotiate decent wages is unreasonable.
If you want to lay blame for people unable to get an ambulance to attend, lay the blame at the feet of the government.

Completely agree

47000 🤣

Are you a member of a union? Because there are rules about striking. If you as an individual decided to strike then yes you would be fired and rightly so.

Things are far worse in the social care sector but social care workers have no choice but to march on utilising food banks or change jobs. Social care workers are paid 8k less then their NHS equivalents, no wonder there in a recruitment and retention crisis which impacts the NHS and service user safeguarding, welfare and quality of care.

This! Your ignorance is disgraceful OP.

They could strike in April and May when there is less pressure AND still cover cat 1 and cat 2 call outs.

How many times does it need to be said..

Working in the NHS is not a form of professional martyrdom where every time pay rises are considered, or working conditions, NHS frontline staff are ignored “because they inherently care, and they could always get a better job elsewhere”

The latter is entirely the point - people are leaving the service in droves, not being replaced. More pressure on those who stay behind.

So yes they should strike at a time when it causes maximum impact. Because they have been ignored to the max by callous Tory governments who expect that moral elasticity to be part of why they don’t stand up for decent pay.

This. Yabu.

They already aren't answering those calls because there aren't enough ambulances for demand or they are stuck at A&E.

People have abused the ambulance service for years, they call them over things they don't need to. A prime example from when I worked in A&E was the lady who called 999 because her grand daughter had cut her finger and she didn't have a plaster. Or the lady who called 999 because her daughter got shampoo in her eyes when having her hair washed.
I think the ambulance service need to refuse to attend calls like this so that people who need then can actually get an ambulance.

I also think hospitals need to do more. The hospital i work in is setting up a drop off ward for the strike because the ambulance service are refusing to wait more than 15 minutes to handover. If they can do this today then why can't they do it every day? They have the staff. I suppose the issue is when the drop off ward gets full.

Yes YABVU, also naive. If the services lose their fight, there will be countless deaths going forward because the service will get less and less safe.

Paramedics need to be paid more to recruit and retain enough to keep the service running at a level that will be sufficient to avoid needless deaths.

Why are nurses the exception?

Yabvu. It's not even all about money. My paramedic husband would like to have survivable working conditions ffs. We can't carry on as we are. It's a complex, horrendous problem with many issues. Striking is a last resort.

Love the idea that there's less pressure on the NHS in April and May. It's all year round pressures now - winter isn't any worse than any other time.

Can I just remind people that the only thing that unions can strike for is pay and conditions. I'm not really interested in anyone saying 'yes but we all want more pay' whilst sitting in their home office doing a job the country probably doesn't need to function. Meanwhile most people in a public facing public sector role are on their knees.

YABU.
Short term pain. If the government had thought more long term about the ageing population for example, we wouldn't be in this bad a mess.
The big mistake some people make is believing that for HCP their job is a 'vocation' and therefore they should put up with all kinds of shite, when for many it absolutely isn't.
Nurse of 32 years.

The unions are literally killing people to make their point.

It is entirely unacceptable.

I can deal with no parcels, no trains, no driving test for dd, no GP apps to a point but I can not believe the cat 2 call outs will not be answered.

A union gun is being held to the country's head and the consequences for those in a traffic accident, suffering from a serious heart attack - well they are just union fodder.

There is no way I would vote for Labour now and have more of this militancy! I can not believe we are in the 21st century and will see people dying in the streets with no care.

Is there a law saying social care workers can't unionise? Maybe they should consider it?

YABU. Be angry at the government and the system they've created. Have you worked in the public sector in the last ten years?

@somethingdifferenttoday Flying by, but I agree with you 100%. Striking is a luxury only afforded to those who are paid by tax payers.

How do you think you will get paramedics to stay in their profession if the working conditions are not made more attractive. There are many factors contributing to the state of the NHS but not enough staff is a big one and it's no wonder why. Go and do one of their shifts for the shit pay and no breaks on a 12+ hour shift and see how you feel. People with broken hips and women in late stage labour are quite often not responded to in a timely fashion daily. Many patients I've seen with hip fractures have waited 24 hours for an ambulance already, some outside 😳 wake up and see why the strike is being done.

Completely disagree

by saying this, you’re both saying it’s ok for NHS staff to be continuously passed over for pay rises. 12 years now of no increase. It’s a disgrace.

That they can’t use the one mechanism left (striking) because someone’s loved one might die (hint - they’re dying already with 9 hour + ambulance waits due to staff shortages and people leaving the service).

By saying this emotive tripe, we’re basically saying the NHS workers are professional martyrs. They can never complain, never stop, never do anything other than serve no matter the conditions.

It is about the state of the NHS as staff are leaving in droves. If you work a professional job, you shouldn't need to use a food bank, or be paid less than someone working in a supermarket.

YANBU. It is disgraceful and they should be ashamed of themselves.

If they could even consider striking they’re in the wrong profession.

I have to agree with previous poster saying why at Christmas and Winter which is peak need time. Cynical old me thinks thats obviously when the unions know it will be most effective. Yes they should get more pay and things need to change quickly, but ordinary people will die not the ruling class because they always have an alternative. They’d have more sympathy if they worked to rule in Spring I’m not a conspiracy theorist but it seems all the unions are very co-ordinated . I’m very scared, I’m scared for my elderly family and my young gc.

YABU - very

Point your anger to where it belongs - these problems exist because of years of dire under funding made much worse by the pandemic.