East of England ambulance service face strike vote
Health / Mon 10th Oct 2022 at 03:22pm
GMB members in the ambulance service have been forced to take a stand in order to protect patient care
The East of England Ambulance Service faces a strike vote as GMB Union launches a formal industrial action ballot.
Ballot dates will be announced in the coming days.
The vote comes following a consultative ballot which saw almost 86 per cent of EEAS members who voted say they were in favour of a walk out.
GMB has almost 800 EEAS paramedics and ambulance workers who are angry over the Government’s imposed 4 per cent pay award, which leaves them facing yet another massive real terms pay cut.
GMB has also announced a formal strike ballot in Yorkshire, North East, West and East Midlands, North West and London Ambulance Services.
Lola McEvoy, GMB Organiser, said:
“GMB members in the ambulance service have been forced to take a stand in order to protect patient care.
“Dedicated ambulance workers are leaving trusts in droves, because the workload pressure is too much and the pay is too poor.
“Those left behind are fighting to protect themselves, their colleagues and the future of the NHS.
“They do not take industrial action lightly and haven’t gone on strike for 40 years – but things can’t go on like this; something has to give.”
Tony Durcan
2022-10-10 17:40:22
Just like the local nurses enough is enough.
Adam
2022-10-10 19:11:55
Tony, you and your lockdowns and mandates especially for care homes caused this. Nothing to do with under funding or anything but total an utter mis management, and destruction caused by focusing on a flu for the last 2 years at the cost of every other medical condition. You politicians own this - enjoy it because it is going to get much worse.
David Forman
2022-10-11 08:54:00
Closing so many District General hospitals has increased the load on the ambulance service and not properly funded to service it's obligations. However, the last Labour government was keen on centralising specialist care into fewer hospitals and the Tories took that process a stage further. So, Labour is just part of the problem.
Theman
2022-10-11 10:52:46
The fundamental problem is we all want everything but don’t want to pay for it. Health and social care costs a lot of money, and the amount we all pay in taxes and NI simply does not cover the cost. For example a friend of mine has been a higher rate tax payer most of his life, he then got cancer in his fifties and worked out the cost of his treatment was more than his NI contributions to date. The current system simply wont work with an ageing population. We have a large increase in demand from a section of society who are in general paying in less as they reach retirement. This means the people still in work have to fill the gap. Even if they can modify the funding model we will still have the problem of not enough young people to look after the old. It seems to me that all our politicians are doing is re arranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship and waiting for a miracle. We all have to decide, if we want it we should pay for it through taxes, as low wages=poor service
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