Elderly who fall at home unlikely to get an ambulance during strikes.

Do you live in an area where most of the population get drunk regularly?

It was a serious question. I have never been in an A & E where loads have people have come in shouting what's wrong with them. Most people come in, go to reception and then go and sit quietly, resigned to waiting. I don't think I've ever known what was wrong with anybody else.

I'm clear in my mind, as every interview with an ambulance worker has clearly stated, it is not just about pay. It's also, about worker shortages, its about our ambulance service being fit for purpose.

Look....

we/the government have known about severe problems in the Ambulance services since the summer, haven't we?

we/the government were told absolutely clearly without any doubt that it would reach crisis in the winter.

So why didnt the Telegraph or whoever alert their reader to it then? Why didnt it/GB news ask for something to be done then?

Oh no, they just come running in because a respected group of workers say, "enough"

and blame the workers, "oh where's your vocation."

growstuff

ParlorGames

Last Christmas I was sudden became very ill indeed. Knowing what the winter pressure is like for the ambulance service my OH took me to A&E, and it wasn't to jump any queues to be seen at the hospital either before anyone jumps on that. We both have medical qualifications and knew what was happening, time was critical.
On arrival at A&E we were both surprised at the number of people waiting but many were clearly not in need of emergency care. One young woman claimed to have had unprotected sex and thought she might have contracted an STD, another said she had eaten some out of date cold meat, a man presented with an itchy rash that he had on and off for some months, another wanted his lower leg cast for a fractured ankle removed so he could have a bath, someone else had a slightly blackened finger nail from trapping it days earlier!
All complete time wasters and during all that time ambulance were queuing up outside with genuinely sick people.
Time people took some responsibility for their own stupidity and self neglect.......A&E means ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY!

Did you interview all these people?

No need for sarcasm growstuff! When you're sitting in a waiting area and people come into reception complaining loudly about their medical conditions it is very hard to not hear them; even worse when they are under the influence.

Just to explain a bit more - Ambulance Trust members are in either GMB or Unison, so it’s quite possible that one Trust will have one Union’s members striking and the other not, depending on the 50% threshold being reached. The same applies to nurses. In Wales for example, the RCN voted to strike in 6 out of 7 Health Boards, but Unison nurses won’t strike as the 50% threshold wasn’t met. It’s a very mixed picture, but everywhere will be affected.

Desperation has caused ambulance and nursing staff to strike. When people are struggling to pay rent or mortgage, heat their homes and feed their children and the government don't listen what options do they have?

growstuff

Yammy

Urmstongran

I think I read it was the Scottish and Welsh nurses with a majority voting for strike action, not so in England. Less than half of the nurses in England wanted to strike but taken as a whole, the majority rules.

Maybe the English nurses felt their work was a" vocation",
like the SEN nurses of yesteryear who gave their whole to do the menial tasks that the SRN were not expected to do.
I was not a health worker but did a job that was considered "Vocational". I broke strikes along with a lot of other colleagues when we could not see children suffering while we were at home.

Did your mortgage lender take your vocation into consideration when you couldn't afford to pay your bills?

That’s not what happened Urmstongran. Each Heath Trust/Board etc. throughout the UK has been balloted separately, it wasn’t done on a country by country basis. Where individual bodies voted over 50% they will strike, where they didn’t they won’t. So, in England there are pockets of areas where a specific group of staff eg nurses in all bodies voted to strike, just as in Wales and Scotland. What has confused the picture is that there are different unions in play in different health organisations, and they haven’t all declared their results yet - but it’s safe to say that virtually all organisations will be affected to a greater or lesser degree.

Yammy

Urmstongran

I think I read it was the Scottish and Welsh nurses with a majority voting for strike action, not so in England. Less than half of the nurses in England wanted to strike but taken as a whole, the majority rules.

Maybe the English nurses felt their work was a" vocation",
like the SEN nurses of yesteryear who gave their whole to do the menial tasks that the SRN were not expected to do.
I was not a health worker but did a job that was considered "Vocational". I broke strikes along with a lot of other colleagues when we could not see children suffering while we were at home.

Did your mortgage lender take your vocation into consideration when you couldn't afford to pay your bills?

Hetty58

What struck me, when listening to the news, was that ambulances would only be available for 'life-threatening' situations. I thought that was their purpose anyway - they're not taxis!

That's my point. Distressing as it is for an old person to fall and perhaps be lying in excrement, unless there's an injury or the person is concussed, he/she doesn't need an ambulance and to be taken into hospital. Cleaning up excrement doesn't need a highly trained paramedic and expensive ambulance. It needs local care workers to get the person back up, make sure there are no obvious injuries and reassure them. If somebody needs frequent help, local teams should be aware, which is why the lack of social care is impacting on more expensive and specialist services.

Blaming ambulance drivers for a failure to fund social care is a distraction.

Urmstongran

I think I read it was the Scottish and Welsh nurses with a majority voting for strike action, not so in England. Less than half of the nurses in England wanted to strike but taken as a whole, the majority rules.

Maybe the English nurses felt their work was a" vocation",
like the SEN nurses of yesteryear who gave their whole to do the menial tasks that the SRN were not expected to do.
I was not a health worker but did a job that was considered "Vocational". I broke strikes along with a lot of other colleagues when we could not see children suffering while we were at home.

ParlorGames

Last Christmas I was sudden became very ill indeed. Knowing what the winter pressure is like for the ambulance service my OH took me to A&E, and it wasn't to jump any queues to be seen at the hospital either before anyone jumps on that. We both have medical qualifications and knew what was happening, time was critical.
On arrival at A&E we were both surprised at the number of people waiting but many were clearly not in need of emergency care. One young woman claimed to have had unprotected sex and thought she might have contracted an STD, another said she had eaten some out of date cold meat, a man presented with an itchy rash that he had on and off for some months, another wanted his lower leg cast for a fractured ankle removed so he could have a bath, someone else had a slightly blackened finger nail from trapping it days earlier!
All complete time wasters and during all that time ambulance were queuing up outside with genuinely sick people.
Time people took some responsibility for their own stupidity and self neglect.......A&E means ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY!

Did you interview all these people?

👀

There are so many strikes happening that I’m losing count.

Many could have been resolved, long before now, but the government is refusing to get involved, or mediate.

When people have received a pay cut year on year for the past decade, of course they are going to strike when they are faced with the biggest pay cut they have ever had to face, if you take into the pay offer, and then the cost of living rise.

Many people are desperate.

What struck me, when listening to the news, was that ambulances would only be available for 'life-threatening' situations. I thought that was their purpose anyway - they're not taxis!

Urmstongran

www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2018/05/nhs-england-worlds-biggest-quango

It's not literally a quango Urmstongran 🤦🏼

Urmstongran

I’m not sure who I’m blaming either Casdon. I just don’t like the mess we’re in. It’s scary.

I agree, it is scary. I don’t blame the ambulance staff in any way though, they wouldn’t be doing this if there was any other option available to them.

Last Christmas I was sudden became very ill indeed. Knowing what the winter pressure is like for the ambulance service my OH took me to A&E, and it wasn't to jump any queues to be seen at the hospital either before anyone jumps on that. We both have medical qualifications and knew what was happening, time was critical.
On arrival at A&E we were both surprised at the number of people waiting but many were clearly not in need of emergency care. One young woman claimed to have had unprotected sex and thought she might have contracted an STD, another said she had eaten some out of date cold meat, a man presented with an itchy rash that he had on and off for some months, another wanted his lower leg cast for a fractured ankle removed so he could have a bath, someone else had a slightly blackened finger nail from trapping it days earlier!
All complete time wasters and during all that time ambulance were queuing up outside with genuinely sick people.
Time people took some responsibility for their own stupidity and self neglect.......A&E means ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY!

I’m not sure who I’m blaming either Casdon. I just don’t like the mess we’re in. It’s scary.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r8khkBnEoQ

Urmstongran

www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2018/05/nhs-england-worlds-biggest-quango

NHS England was created in 2013, by the current government. I’m not sure who we are blaming here?

I think I read it was the Scottish and Welsh nurses with a majority voting for strike action, not so in England. Less than half of the nurses in England wanted to strike but taken as a whole, the majority rules.

www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2018/05/nhs-england-worlds-biggest-quango

My granddaughter has recently joined the ambulance service under an apprentice scheme,so far she loves the job, has passed her advanced driving test and eventually hopes to train as a Paramedic. It saddens me that one of her early experiences will be that of going on strike.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/World%27s%20Biggest%20Quango%20NHS%20England%20web.pdf

If it’s about exploitation and not money (which is is) Blossoming then there are other ways to try to tackle this - work to rule was one. As in ‘my shift ends at 10pm I’m doing that and not a minute longer so sort the cover out Managers’. Your mother would have been one of the nurses who took up nursing as a vocation, as my aunt did. They did, back in the day.

These unions are very strong but I think they’re going to alienate the public soon enough. Especially if people die because of the strike action.