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

i certainly won't be voting for Labour

This.

YABU.

The fact that the "Government" have fucked off on holiday for a couple of weeks while the country grinds to a dangerous halt is more worrying.

OI, RISHI and CO...We're all still here waiting for you to do the jobs you're overpaid and underqualified supposed to do.
Don't you dare send a Tory MP to knock on my door before the next election. They really will need medical attention - although fortunately mine's a fucking Doctor, so he can stick it back together on his own. 🤦‍♀️🤬

Like I said on the thread about nurses that conveniently got taken down.

You’re angry at the wrong people.

@Venetiaparties thank you.

As you put it, this is how I feel:

"MN is a weird place for the strike stuff, in every walk of life and every single poerson I know is condemning this action op. It is only here weirdly where people say it is fine for people to die so they can secure a higher pay rise!

FFS - What has the world come to."

To those asking why I didn't enable voting, because I'm on the mobile app, no big conspiracy!

@Venetiaparties that's hysterical! This is all happening under a Conservative government as a result of Conservative policy and the result is - you won't vote Labour.

YABVVU

39+1 weeks pregnant and YABU

The unions are literally killing people to make their point.

They’re literally not. Don’t be so hysterical.

This. All this.

It’s not blackmail, it’s collective action. It’s the only tool public sector workers have.

YABVU. Ambulance service workers deserve fair conditions. They deserve a functioning service.

YABU I support the strike.

They have no option, really. Patients are already endangered by the working conditions, something has to change.

I support the strikes and blame the conservatives for the state of social care and the nhs. Social care sector particularly has had reduced funding for the last 12 years, resulting in the local authorities failing to properly finance care packages for the elderly and disabled. Talk of preying on the most vulnerable in our society.

It will mainly be old people that die.

I agree carers should be paid more (it's tricky where most are private though there's a limit to the degree government can interfere), but £8k less are you sure? Nurses are generally paid very similar if not a bit more in care homes, and carers are most closely aligned to HCAs who start on £20k so not much above minimum wage. You can join unions and strike though, the only people who legally cannot are the armed forces and police arent allowed to strike but I think they can join a union- so go for it.

YABU - it's the government's fault they are striking.

Anyone who voted Tory who is now annoyed that they are striking is a particular brand of idiot.

Short term pain??????

WTF

The short term pain you are describing are the deaths of people's children, grannies and parents dying without any chance of ambulance?

Are you actually serious?

How on earth have you become so indifferent about totally avoidable deaths?

It is terrifying you are a nurse of 32 years, are you still working? I would hate to be under your care, health is seemingly a total irrelevance to you. You are have become entirely desensitised and should work elsewhere.

YABU

Educate yourself before making such comments. Your happy for the people who one day could actually save your life or someone close but your happy they get paid fuck all to do it. Long working days, no let up at all.

Like with Covid?

Not like kids with Strep A, then?

YABU

There are rules, you can only strike about pay and conditions they aren't allowed to strike about the state of the NHS they are just doing what they can.

I stood on the picket line last week with nurses who told me the emergency minimum staffing levels they had put in on the wards to cover the strike were more generous than the staffing levels they have to work with on a daily basis! So the strike might save some lives ironically!!

Strikes are a last resort. If you voted Tory, you’ve contributed to the cause of the strikes. Place the blame at the right people.

The government isn’t doing their job. Any deaths lie at their feet.

1. Most paramedics don't earn close to £47k

2. There are limits on what they can choose to strike over

3. Increased pay would help recruitment and retention which is a big factor in the issues facing healthcare

4. There is cover in place for emergencies and paramedics who will break strike if needed

5. The service and wait times are already broken and not functioning. There may be little difference in service provision but at least people are talking about it

Being a paramedic is a job. The demands being placed on paramedics now are not what they signed up to and are not reasonable. They are leaving the profession and being signed off in droves. They can't be forced to continue to offer subpar service to their own health detriments. If you disagree, are you retraining to enter the profession?

I am not being hysterical.

There will be no cat 2 call outs made today which include some car accidents, heart attacks, strokes, women in labour etc. What do you think is going to happen to these people exactly??????