'The system is broken' - ambulance staff strike in South West over pay and conditions dispute
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Ambulance workers across the South West have described the NHS as "broken" as they took part in strikes over pay and conditions.
Staff took part in the industrial action today (11 January) for the second time in two months calling for a wage rise closer to inflation.
They’ve also spoken about fighting for a better service for patients as the most recent data up until the first week of January shows the South West has some of the worst handover times in the country.
More than half of patients were left waiting more than an hour to be discharged from ambulances to emergency departments – more than double the national average.
Lizzie Archer, a paramedic who attended a picket line in Bristol on her day off, said: "As paramedics, we see some pretty horrendous things but I find this can be the most heartbreaking.
"Sitting outside a hospital watching a patient not get the care that they need and not being treated in a way that we expect them to be treated in the NHS that I’ve worked in 12 years."
Andy Perris, a member of Unison, was part of the picket line by the East Devon Operations Centre near Exeter to join 20,000 colleagues on strike across the UK today.
He called the system "broken" and said: "We’re losing thousands of hours of ambulance time at hospitals.
"We’ve got stacks of emergency calls waiting to be responded to that we haven’t got vehicles for – the job is broken.
"Yes, the dispute is about pay because our emergency care assistants are earning a pittance but it’s also about the way the system is broken.
"People are angry and upset and what else can they do? No one is listening, no one is doing anything. We need something to fix the NHS."
Despite the strike action, staff were still responding to urgent calls – cardiac arrests and strokes, for example – while still ensuring their voices were being heard.
Jake McLean, the regional organiser at GMB Union in Exeter, said: “This is the biggest ambulance strike for 30 years so that speaks volumes.
"They’re responding to calls as well as taking strike action to protect their jobs and to get better pay.
"They’re still going above and beyond to make sure the public is being kept safe."
Alex Vipond, a paramedic on strike in Bristol, said: "It is not just about pay but it is literally to save our NHS, it’s that simple really.
"We’re more on a knife edge, it is basically broken and it pains me to say that. Something’s got to be done."
Although staff were still attending to the most serious cases today, this action still piles pressure on an already wounded health service.
Severin Anderson, emergency care assistant: "We’ve arranged that we will be attending life-threatening emergencies so most serious cases – for example, cardiac arrests, strokes, all those kinds of jobs – we’ll be going to as normal.
"People are dying every day because we’re not able to help them because we’re clogged up with the whole problems that the health service is experiencing.”
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