Ambulance workers going on strike

[behappy1736]

Now I'm probably going to get flack for this but I just cannot get my head around why ambulance workers or any other medical professionals go on strike! I get it because of the pay rise and they are trying to make a point and strike to get a rise etc, but how can they do this when they know their actions will have consequences for people if they all strike?
It worries me that you will not be able to get an ambulance if needed for your family or children and I just don't understand how they can do this when their jobs are putting people first this kind of action is the complete opposite of that.

Good gods how horrifically tone deaf.

But everyone has their limits as to how far they will be pushed and what they feel able to tolerate and cope with. Pay that in real terms is getting worse every year, terrible working conditions, little support, watching patients suffer because of inadequate staffing. You might not have reached your breaking point yet, but some paremedics have and the only thing that is left when that happens is to remove your labour to push for change.

Yep.

They're not charity workers, they're professionals who should be respected and paid, and the service run efficiently in order to enable them to do their job. Throwing the moral line out there is very unfair, it's saying you're important enough to be essential in saving lives but not important enough to pay fairly. It's abuse. Direct your anger at the politicians who continue to allow the shitty pay, poor working conditions and under staffing to continue.

And the government that want to privatise the NHS and Ambulance Trusts.

The sad fact is that they have to strike, as do the nurses and the junior doctors….otherwise the NHS will be gone as we know it, if we don’t make the government wake up and do something to effect change for the ordinary working people, yes the paramedics, the nurses the care workers…all just ordinary working people who have been absolute shafted for the last 12 years. This cannot go on…..we need to support the strikes and put any pressure on the government that we can. They need to take notice for all our sakes. Please have a go at your MP’s not the striking workers. This is 12 years of a Tory government.

The Government are putting lives in danger, not Paramedics or Nurses striking.

@marshamelrose are you forced to do overtime because you made contact with a patient 1 minute before the end of your 12 hour shift, when that could mean an additional 4 hours, when your kids are home alone?

We will still be answering life or death calls and the military are picking up the rest. I'm sorry, I'm drawing the line.

The GOVERNMENT is putting lives at risk by refusing to pay and treat ambulance workers properly.

But if they do nothing then they are tacitly accepting the terrible, dangerous way in which they are currently working and the huge toll that takes on the well-being of anyone who needs an ambulance. The situation has to change, and striking is a last ditch attempt to force change when all other avenues have failed. I’m pretty sure everyone on strike has at least as deep an understanding of their responsibilities as you do and hasn’t decided to strike without deep soul searching. It’s better to force this issue than to let this terrible situation continue.

if you think this is unacceptable - which it is - you should focus your attention on the people in power who create the situation, not the workers who are doing everything they can.

Solidarity to anyone who feels forced into striking.

We will still be responding to the highest category incidents.

The strike isn't just about the (appalling) pay. It's about working conditions, how badly patient safety is compromised.

The problems in the NHS portrayed in the media are literally just scratching the surface.

Our 999 lines had 30+ calls queueing this weekend. 111 had in excess of 550. Nobody wants to come and do that job because it's bloody hard, for minimal pay. We are under so much pressure it is absolutely unbelievable and something absolutely has to give.

Surely you should be thinking about what will happen if they don't strike? Pay, conditions and patient care will stay exactly the same and paramedics will leave the profession in large numbers (as they are in nursing) and then when you're in a life or death situation, You'll need them and they won't be there.

For too long we (as a country) have absolutely taken a lot of key professions for granted and finally they're all at their limit and starting to strike.
If it makes the powers that be sit up and really think about how much we need them, it's the right move imo.
Everyone I've spoken to about this supports the strikes, for nurses, trains, paramedics, teachers.

We all make our own decisions and we all live with them. I stopped activities that would affect the organisation but never anything that involved clients. We all felt the same way and the union arranged the strike terms based on that stipulation.

People complain about patients being sat in an ambulance outside a&e for hours and hours. Imagine how the paramedics feel that they cannot care for their patients properly and they cannot take another call because the hospital cannot admit them into a&e because they are at capacity because all the hospital beds are full to send the patients to the appropriate ward, the ward cannot discharge patients because there is a lack of community social care so therefore become bed blockers. It's a viscous cycle which has been like this for many years and it nees to stop and it needs reform.

I support them all

Please don't be sorry, thousands support you

👏

It's an important point

No matter how big (or small) the vessel, it will fill up if the outflow is blocked.

You need to clear the outflow.

So the key thing to clear queues at A&E is to invest in social care

So according to you, because people work in the health/care secure, they aren’t allowed to strike?
So they have to accept crap working conditions, crap wages?

I mean they can do that.
Theyll just leave instead, even more than they are now. And then you’ll have absolutely no one to care for people in hospitals or to take them to A&E 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

And?

There is already limited other activities. Paramedics start a shift and it's patient facing jobs for 12 hours solid. Often no break at all, even mandatory training has to be done in their own time. There is literally nothing else to cut.

I’m wondering what sort if work you think paramedics could stop doing that doesn’t involve contact with patients….

I wasn’t aware that there is a lot of admin to do on that job…..

My husband is a paramedic. He works 12 hour shifts, often longer, often without a break. I can't tell you how often he has had his annual leave cancelled. He has seen and dealt with things in work that are so horrific we couldn't even imagine. He is abused and threatened by the public, shouted at, he has had knives pulled on him, been physically attacked by patients and relatives. He is exhausted and burnt out yet still has to do overtime to pay the bills. He is terrified to take any sick leave because he would lose his unsocial working allowance and would be unable to do overtime.

During the strikes, true life or death emergencies will be attended to. Otherwise you will have to get yourself to hospital if needed. Which is how it should be anyway. Ambulances are there for when you cannot make your own way to hospital or have someone take you due to your illness or injury. They should not be called if you have means to get there yourself anyway.

Something has to change.

How much would you think they would be worth when if they were saving your loved ones life? Would they be worth a pay rise then? Or do you really think they should be happy to do it for the love of the job, and bollocks to the fact that they can't feed their families?

My work quota was whatever calls came in for my area. If a call came in at 17.59, it was my responsibility to sort it out, whether it took 3 minutes or 3 hours. Plus one night a week I'd work from 9am - 6pm, then from 6pm through to 9am on call, and then the following day 9-6, regardless of how many call-out I'd done in the night. Every fifth weekend, I'd work from Sat 9am solidly through to Monday 1pm. Then I'd be off to Weds 9am.
I know about long hours. When we went on strike, I did exactly the same hours because by not doing so, a tragedy could occur.
Like I say, we all make our own decisions on what to do.

Most definitely. Social Care needs reform.

Many councils have sold off their residential care homes.

Many councils stopped doing home care.

I've seen it all with my own eyes, working in social care and the NHS it's heartbreaking.