Britain’s National Health Service is set to be thrown into chaos over the next two days as tens of thousands of nurses walk out of their jobs today and ambulance crews go on strike tomorrow amid disputes over pay.
Hospital trusts have declared critical incidents amid fears the walkouts will harm the care given to vulnerable heart attack and stroke patients.
There are fears over what could happen to these patients, with reports it is already taking up to 90 minutes to attend them and warning some people needing hospital treatment could have to call taxis to get them there more quickly.
Health minister Will Quince today urged Britons not to do anything ‘risky’ tomorrow because of the disruption.
It comes amid a week of industrial action that will see the UK thrown into turmoil, with strikes by the Border Force, Royal Mail and rail unions in the lead up to Christmas.
Health minister Will Quince today urged Britons not to do anything ‘risky’ tomorrow because of the disruption
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) General Secretary Pat Cullen joins members of the RCN on the picket line outside the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, today
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) take to the picket line outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, this morning
Nurses took to picket lines this morning outside Guy’s Hospital in London
Health Secretary Steve Barclay is set to meet unions today in a last ditch effort to avoid further chaos, as NHS nurses walk out of their jobs for the second time in the space of a week as part of a bitter dispute over pay.
Around a quarter of hospitals and community teams in England are taking part in the strike, alongside all trusts in Northern Ireland and all but one health board in Wales.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has threatened further strikes in January if the Government does not cave to its demands for a 19 per cent pay rise for its members, something ministers have said is unaffordable.
During its strike today the NHS will be running a bank holiday-style service in many areas as thousands of operations and procedures are cancelled and rescheduled.
The RCN has said it will still staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care, as well as some other services.
However, critical incidents have already been declared in hospital and ambulance services across the East Midlands, the North East, the North West and Wales. Some areas are already recording six out of 10 patients transported to hospital by ambulance being forced to wait outside.
On Wednesday, ambulance workers including paramedics, control room workers and technicians will also walk out in England and Wales, with health chiefs warning this represents the most serious threat to date.
In some instances, unions have only agreed to allow staff to attend life-threatening incidents, which are those where a person’s heart has stopped or they are not breathing.
Others say it will be down to individual members to decide if they wish to offer a more comprehensive service.
The development means more people than expected will be forced to make their own way to hospital in an emergency and makes it more likely that they will die or be left with serious disabilities as a result of tomorrow’s walkouts.
The Government has drafted in hundreds of members of the Armed Forces to drive ambulances during this period to provide support for less serious calls.
Armed forces personnel will also cover striking staff from the Border Force, who are striking from December 23 to Boxing Day, and again from December 28 to New Year’s Eve.
Mr Quince said that military personnel covering for striking ambulance workers will not be allowed to break red lights or turn on blue lights when driving ambulances.
Ambulance crews are set to go on strike tomorrow as well, as the dispute on pay continues. Pictured: NHS ambulances outside a hospital in London on December 7
Hundreds of members of the Armed Forces will be drafted in to drive ambulances during tomorrow’s strike. Pictured: Ambulances outside a hospital in London on December 7
Royal Mail postal workers on the picket line outside the Leeds Mail Centre on December 15
RMT members stand on the picket line with union boss Mick Lynch outside Euston Station in London on December 13
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘The armed forces personnel, who I’m hugely grateful to for their support in this endeavour, around 750 members of armed forces personnel are supporting trusts.
‘What they won’t be able to do is break the law — so driving through red lights, they won’t be able to turn blue lights on.
‘They will be there to drive ambulances in a support capacity for individual trusts.’
But he insisted that military staff will still ‘play a hugely important role in supporting paramedics and ambulance staff in getting people to emergency departments’.
He said that he would be clear with the trade unions that there should be a ‘minimum service level’, adding that he was ‘concerned’ about Wednesday’s planned action.
Mr Quince said: ‘Where people are planning any risky activity, I would strongly encourage them not to do so.’
He told anyone with chest pains on Wednesday to call 999 despite the strike action by ambulance workers.
‘If you have chest pains, then phone 999. If it is not life-threatening, then it’s really important that people call NHS 111 or NHS 111 online,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Asked if having chest pains is an emergency and that a patient could get an ambulance, Mr Quince said: ‘If you have chest pains, call 999 and the expectation is, and I’ve been really clear with you, I don’t think that there is any paramedic, ambulance technician, anyone working in our NHS, whether they’re on a picket line or not, that would not respond to a 999 call where somebody has chest pains and there is a threat of a heart attack.
‘Call 999, a clinician will assess that call and then consider the appropriate action whether that’s an ambulance, whether it’s community services, whether it’s NHS 111.’
Rail workers will go on strike from Christmas Eve, causing an earlier than normal end to services and throwing festive plans into disarray, and postal workers are striking on Friday and Saturday, causing potential issues for last minute deliveries before Christmas.
Speaking ahead of the nurses strike today, RCN chief executive Pat Cullen said: ‘The Prime Minister should ask himself what is motivating nursing staff to stand outside their hospitals for a second day so close to Christmas.
‘They are prepared to sacrifice a day’s pay to have their concerns heard. Their determination stems as much from worries over patient safety and the future of the NHS than personal hardship.
‘Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure in Westminster following last Thursday’s strike and he should listen to people around him.
‘The public is increasingly with their local nursing staff and this Government desperately needs to get on the right side of them. It is unprecedented for my members to strike.
‘Let’s get this wrapped up by Christmas. I will negotiate with him at any point to stop nursing staff and patients going into the new year facing such uncertainty.
‘But if this Government isn’t prepared to do the right thing, we’ll have no choice but to continue in January and that will be deeply regrettable.’
Britain’s strike hell continues into Christmas, starting today
Calendar shows the series of strikes set for the next two weeks
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: ‘The RCN’s demands are unaffordable during these challenging times and would take money away from frontline services while they are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic. I’m open to engaging with the unions on how to make the NHS a better place to work.’
Mr Barclay will meet unions representing striking ambulance drivers in 11th hour talks today, although the discussions are unlikely to avert the action.
He wants to discuss patient safety with Unison, GMB and Unite but his refusal to negotiate on pay means the following day’s strikes are bound to go ahead.
The Health Secretary is understood to hold concerns over whether all emergency calls will be covered, but unions said there would be ‘no strikes at all if ministers would only talk to unions and improve NHS pay’.
The Government has announced controversial plans to deploy more than 1,000 civil servants and 1,200 troops to cover for striking ambulance workers and Border Force staff, who are preparing to walk out for eight days from December 23 until New Year’s Eve.
Unions have branded the move a ‘desperate measure’, warning the servicemen and women are not ‘sufficiently trained’ to plug staffing gaps on the front line, while the Chief of the Defence Staff has said the armed forces should not be treated as ‘spare capacity’.
During Wednesday’s ambulance strike, the military will not drive ambulances on blue lights for the most serious calls but are expected to provide support on less serious calls.
Negotiations between unions and ambulance services are still ongoing to work out which incidents should be exempt from strike action.
All category 1 calls (the most life-threatening such as cardiac arrest) will be responded to, while some ambulance trusts have agreed exemptions with unions for specific incidents within category 2 (serious conditions, such as stroke or chest pain).
This means those who suffer trips, falls or other non-life-threatening injuries may not receive treatment.
In the North East, the ambulance service has said it ‘is clear that we will not be able to respond to all calls of a serious nature’.
It added ‘there are likely to be significant delays in response for patients who have less serious illness or injury’.
Stephen Segasby, chief operating officer at North East Ambulance Service, said: ‘We have planned with great care for this strike, but our services will be extremely busy and we do expect them to be severely disrupted.
‘We also anticipate that the days after the strike will be busy and as we head into an extended bank holiday over Christmas, we want to encourage people to use services wisely and prepare where possible.
‘Ambulances will still be able to respond during the strike, but this will only be where there is an immediate risk to life.
‘This means that less serious calls will not receive a response for the duration of the strike action and some patients might be asked to make their own way to hospital, where it is safe for them to do so.’
SWR has announced it is operating a significantly reduced service for the next two weeks, with more than 40 stations with limited or no service across its network, caused in part by the RMT’s overtime ban and major planned engineering works
Other trusts said negotiations were still ongoing, while London Ambulance Service said ‘patients whose conditions are not life-threatening are unlikely to get an ambulance on industrial action days’.
It said where the situation is not life-threatening, alternative support will be available through NHS 111 online or through NHS 111.
Members of the GMB are set to stage a second ambulance worker walkout on December 28.
This week will see workers in multiple industries go on strike amid disputes over pay and conditions.
In addition to health workers and Border Force staff, rail workers are continuing to hold industrial action.
A RMT overtime ban on days when walkouts are not planned has caused widespread chaos including last-minute cancellations yesterday, scuppering festive plans and ‘bottlenecks’ at depots as rail operators scramble to get the right number of staff in place to be able to run services safely.
One rail operator was forced to cancel 70 per cent of its services on the day yesterday, and South Western Railway has closed 40 stations until the New Year due to the ongoing disruption called by industrial action.
Other stations including Sunderland announced it would close this week, prompting fury from residents who said it was ‘completely unacceptable’ during the festive period.
The railway network will shutdown once again from 3pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on December 27 as another national walkout gets under way in a bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.