Ambulance workers will strike as they demand fairer pay (Picture: Getty)

Thousands of ambulance staff in London and other areas across the UK have taken strike action over the last few months amid a row over pay – and there’s another round of walkouts today (February 20).

Thousands of 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics, mechanics and administrative staff join an increasing list of workers taking industrial action, with the likes university staff and border force also going on strike recently..

Workers on trains and buses have also walked out in recent weeks and the teachers’ strike earlier this year saw seven million children off school.

Although the ambulance service will continue to cover life-threatening emergencies, other people in need of urgent care may face making their own way to A&E or calling for a taxi to take them to hospital during the strike.

But which services are on strike today, and what has led to the walkout?

An ambulance worker leaves the picket line to respond to a 999 call (Credits: PA)

Which ambulance services are on strike today?

GMB members at the following ambulance services will be walking out today:

East Midlands Ambulance Service 

North East Ambulance Service 

North West Ambulance Service 

South Central Ambulance 

South East Coast Ambulance Service 

South West Ambulance Service 

Welsh Ambulance Service (TBC)

Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Additionally, ambulance workers with Unite in the East Midlands, North East and Wales are due to strike.

What should I do if I need an ambulance?

If you have a medical emergency, you should still call 999.

The advice from NHS England website’s page for industrial action, is: ‘Patients should only call 999 if it is a medical or mental health emergency (when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk).’

For urgent medical help, use 111 online or call 111.

When is the next ambulance strike?

Ambulance workers on the picket line in Waterloo, London (Picture: PA)

Following today’s action, further ambulance strikes are scheduled for:

February 22 (Unite, North West Ambulance Service)

February 23-24 (Unite, Northern Ireland)

March 6 and 20 (GMB, full details of affected regions here.)

Why are ambulance workers striking?

Ambulance workers are walking out in an ongoing row over pay and staffing levels.

Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: ‘After 12 years of Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, NHS staff have had enough. The last thing they want to do is take strike action but the government has left them with no choice.’

‘Health Secretary Steve Barclay needs to listen and engage with us about pay. If he can’t talk to us about this most basic workforce issue, what on Earth is he Health Secretary for? The government could stop this strike in a heartbeat – but they need to wake up and start negotiating on pay.’

Unite says the action is a ‘stark warning’ to the government that it must stem the crisis engulfing the NHS following ministers’ ‘deliberate 12-year assault on pay.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: ‘The decision to take action and lose a day’s pay is always a tough call. It’s especially challenging for those whose jobs involve caring and saving lives.

Ambulance workers are calling for a ‘fair salary increase’ (Picture: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

‘But thousands of ambulance staff and their NHS colleagues know delays won’t lessen, nor waiting times reduce, until the government acts on wages. That’s why they’ve taken the difficult decision to strike.’

She added that, despite the strikes, patients will ‘always come first’ and emergency cover will be available.

MORE : All strikes planned for March 2023 – from trains to teachers

MORE : Number of days lost to strikes is at its highest since the Thatcher era

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