Ambulance workers across North West walk out for third day in dispute over pay and conditions
ITV's Victoria Grimes reports from a picket line in Lancashire
North West Ambulance Service workers staging fresh strike action in an escalating dispute over pay and staffing say they have been "overwhelmed" with support from the public.
Thousands of ambulance workers, from the Unison, GMB and and Unite unions, are on the picket line for the third time in five weeks.
They are joined by 5,000 of their NHS colleagues - including cleaners and healthcare assistants - at the Liverpool University Hospitals Trust and the city’s Heart and Chest Hospital.
Dale Ollier, from Unison, spent the day on the picket line outside Aintree Hospital, he says: "There is life and limb cover, but it's the elective care, the non-emergency care and appointments that have been cancelled.
"Of course we have an enormous backlog already, but lives are not being put at risk by our actions and the public support has been overwhelming."
He continues: "I believe the public support will continue until the public is satisfied that the NHS is properly staffed and those caring for them are paid properly."
The strike is the third in five weeks, as the government is urged to urgently resolve a deepening row over health workers' pay and conditions.
Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite says: "There has been no meaningful pay offer from the Government so it is clear that Rishi Sunak needs to come to the table as the ultimate decision maker and deal with this dispute."
It is feared the NHS dispute could run for many months.
Paramedics in the North West taking strike action say it is because patient safety and level of care is being "compromised" due to a lack of resources.
The North West Ambulance Service says the emergency call centre handles 5,000 999 calls every days and responds to 3,000 incidents a day.
Director for Contact Centres, Daniel Ainsworth, says the demand is increasing and putting extra pressure on staff.
He said: "Our staff come to work to save lives and while we still continue to do that the number of calls they are having to deal with makes that more challenging.
"There will be times when we cannot respond to everybody during industrial action and the people who have to tell them that are the front line staff answering 999 calls."
Speaking on Monday, the Prime Minister has said he is not able to “wave a magic wand” to resolve the bitter dispute over pay among NHS staff.
Rishi Sunak said that giving pay rises to striking staff – including ambulance workers and nurses – would lead to money being taken away from “elsewhere in the NHS budget”.
He told ITV News: “Taking a step back, of course it would be lovely to be able to wave a magic wand and just give everyone what they were demanding when it came to pay.
“But my job as Prime Minister is to make the right decisions for the country, and they are, more often than not, not easy decisions.
“But that’s my job, and that’s what I will always do in this job, and… when you think about this, how would we pay for these things? Where’s the money going to come from?
“Actually, it’s probably going to have to come from elsewhere in the NHS budget, and that means fewer nurses, fewer doctors, fewer MRI scanners and CT scanners that are diagnosing people with cancer or indeed fewer mental health ambulances that we’re announcing today that are going to save people from going to A&E.
“My job is to balance all of those things and do what I believe is right for the country. And that’s what we’re doing.
“I need to do, and the government needs to do, what is right for the country long term.”
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