Sussex ambulance worker strikes: Second day of industrial action postponed until new year

The GMB Union announced last week that paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff would go on strike twice either side of Christmas.

The military were called in amid the first day of industrial action on Wednesday (December 21), with one trust declaring a ‘critical incident’. Staff were due to go on strike again next Wednesday (December 28).

Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary said: “We are overwhelmed by Wednesday’s amazing public support for our paramedics and ambulance staff.

“People across the country have been wonderful in backing us and we care so much about them too. That’s why we are suspending the proposed GMB industrial action on December 28. “We know the public will appreciate being able to enjoy Christmas without any additional anxiety. They support us and we support them.

"The workforce crisis in our NHS is so severe and our commitment to getting ambulance staff the proper pay they deserve is stronger than ever, so we are scheduling a further date for action on January 11, 2023.”

South East Coast Ambulance Service said it will ‘continue to work’ with its unions, colleagues, volunteers and system partners ‘for future periods of industrial action’.

One Brighton paramedic, who joined this week’s nationwide strike, said her long hours could be putting herself and patients at risk – and called for action from the government. Click here to read more.

“Across the country, GMB members in the ambulance service were given incredible support by the public when taking industrial action,” a GMB spokesperson said on Friday (December 23).

"The NHS is on its knees and the public are suffering every day because the government has failed to properly resource and plan for our health service. Nowhere is this clearer than in the appalling delays experienced in getting an ambulance and then getting into A&E.

"Solving such problems starts with getting enough people to work in the NHS. Unless the government starts to talk pay now the problems will get worse with every passing day.”

The GMB said the consequences of the failure to protect the public are ‘scary’. with one in three ambulance workers seeing a death ‘due to delays’.

"As GMB revealed, NHS England’s own figures confirm deaths after transfer delays have more than doubled in the last year,” the spokesperson added.

However, Rachel Harrison said ‘the incredible British public’ are ‘why we are suspending our action over the Christmas period’.

She added: “But, it also means the government can now do what ambulance workers and the public want – get round the table and talk pay now. We are here 24/7. Any time, any place. Over to you Steve Barclay [Secretary of State for Health and Social Care]. Everyone is waiting.”

See also: One in eight ambulance patients waited more than an hour at the Sussex University Hospitals Trust last week

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