NHS ‘in Crisis’ As 11,000 UK Ambulance Staff Walk Out in Latest Strikes
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – More than 11,000 ambulance workers in England and Wales are on strike today in the latest NHS action over pay.
Paramedics, emergency care assistants and call handlers are among staff staging pickets across eight trusts, The Metro reported.
Rachel Harrison, head of the GMB union, accused the government of being ‘tin-eared’ and said it had been a month since it engaged in meaningful talks.
‘There’s a recruitment crisis in the NHS,’ she said. ‘Solving the issue of pay is vital if we’re going to stem the tide of dedicated healthcare workers leaving the profession.’
Last week, workers in Wales rejected an extra 1.5 percent, with the same as a one-off bonus. Junior doctors in the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association will strike for the first time in the union’s history on March 15.
Junior doctors with the British Medical Association have been balloted on a walkout, with the result expected today. Its head Prof Philip Banfield accused Rishi Sunak of ‘standing on the precipice of a historic mistake’ by failing to stop strike action.
The Department of Health said junior doctors’ pay had increased by 8.2 percent since 2019.