EXISTING SAFETY AGREEMENTS ‘SAVED LIVES’ AS AMBULANCE DELAYS PLUMMET AGAIN ON STRIKE DAY, GMB ANALYSIS SHOWS

GMB Union members left picket lines to save lives – instead of praising them, the Government has demonised them

Serious ambulance delays plummeted once again on the latest strike day, GMB analysis of NHS figures shows.

On 11 January – the day of a national ambulance walk out – handover delays of more than an hour were down 5 times in England on the week before.

There were 444 delays of more than an hour – 5.6 per cent of arrivals

On 4 January there were more than 2,500 delays of an hour or more – 25.3 per cent of all arrivals. [1]

The figures follow NHS data from the 21 December national ambulance strike day, when serious delays almost halved from the week before.

The figures show that the Government’s ‘minimum service level’ legislation is an excuse to further restrict the right to strike, the union said.

Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said:

“This Government has left our NHS so broken that performance actually improved on strike day.

“GMB members agreed safety levels with each and every ambulance trust. – then they dropped everything and left the picket lines to save lives.

“Instead of praising them, this Government his demonised them and pushed through a fresh attack on workers’ rights.

“They are scaremongering and playing political games- they need to talk pay now.”