Thousands of ambulance workers go on strike in UK

Thousands of ambulance workers in the UK are going on strike today(21 December). The protesting workers say that the increasing pressure on the emerging services workers and low pay are the primary reasons for the strike. This comes a day after the nurses walked out of the hospitals over the low pay.

The National Health Service of the United Kingdom is already under massive pressure due to the rising cases of flu and COVID-19. The ambulance workers' strike could have devastating effects on health services.

About 25,000 workers are on strike throughout England and Wales. The strike came after the talks between the union leaders and Steve Barclay, Health Secretary, failed. The union leaders said that the pay of health service workers has fallen by 17 percent, in real-time, since 2010, while the demand for ambulances has increased by 77 percent in the same period.


Rachel Harrison, the national secretary of the worker's union, says that he has tried everything to raise pay, the issue causing this dispute, but the government will not listen and will not talk. Ambulance workers – and the public – deserve better. The government needs to talk about pay now.

Steve Barclay, Health Secretary, said the health system is under severe pressure due to the strikes. He accused the union of choosing the worst time for a strike since the people were already suffering from flu and COVID, and they required assistance from the health workers more than ever.

He says that they now know that the NHS contingency plans will not cover all 999 calls. Ambulance unions have made a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients. Talking about the pay demands, Barclay says that further pay increases would mean taking money away from frontline services at a time when we are tackling record waiting lists as a result of the pandemic.


The union leaders have said that they have made exceptions for the Category 1 calls (most critical such as cardiac arrest) and will attend to those in extreme need even during the strike. They further said that only specific Category 2(stroke or chest pain) calls would be attended.

The government has called about 600 army, navy, and RAF staff for the contingency plan, but conditions remain worrisome as most of them have never driven an ambulance.

FAQs:

1. How much was the UK govt's health budget in 2021?
   In 2021, the health budget of the UK government was about 276 billion Pound sterling.
2. Which country spends most on healthcare?
   The US spends most on health care in percentage to the GDP.