‘Hundreds’ of emergency calls during four-hour ambulance strike

More than 400 emergency calls were received during a four-hour ambulance strike today, Monday 24th November.
nbua-15-11-12-ambulance - Generic East Midlands Ambulance photo.nbua-15-11-12-ambulance - Generic East Midlands Ambulance photo.
nbua-15-11-12-ambulance - Generic East Midlands Ambulance photo.

A national strike took place this morning as part of the ongoing national NHS pay dispute.

Sue Noyes, East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) chief executive said: “Our colleagues and volunteers have worked incredibly hard and I thank them for working with us to protect patient care.

“Our contingency plans, which included close liaison with the other emergency and NHS services in our area, and our discussions with the Trade Unions have helped mitigate the impact the action had on patient services.”

During the industrial action, 10 per cent of the workforce took full strike action. Of the 423 frontline colleagues who were on duty, 44 per cent worked normally, and 56 per cent took some form of industrial action.

EMAS received 415 emergency and urgent 999 calls during the four-hours between 7am and 11am, with 97 per cent of all calls being answered within three seconds.

Of these calls, 177 were categorised as life-threatening, 159 were serious, and 79 were from people who were suffering a minor illness or injury (other calls include doctor or other health profession requests).

With further strikes looming, an NHS spokesman added: “We will continue to hold detailed discussions with GMB and Unison representatives to make sure we mitigate any impact on patient safety.

“During this time we would ask the public to only use the 999 service in an emergency.

“Other NHS services are available to support people with minor illness or injury – they include NHS111, general practitioner, local pharmacy or walk-in/urgent care centre.”

Did you have any issues when contacting the ambulance service during the strike?

If so, call us on 01623 450305.