The Welsh Ambulance Service chief executive has said that he understands the concerns of ambulance staff who are currently on strike in Wales.
Almost 1,500 ambulance workers in Wales took part in industrial action again om Wednesday, January 11. The staff are in a dispute over pay and working conditions and are part of the GMB union (further strikes by ambulance workers in Unite are planned for later this month. You can read more about these here.
Speaking to WalesOnline chief executive Jason Killens said that he supported their concerns about patient safety. "The strike is about pay," he said. "That's the starting point. It is over a dispute with government over pay. But what is clear in talking to people, both staff in the control rooms and on the streets, is that in the choices or the decisions that they're taking about whether they take strike action or not, is the environment in which they're working.
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"So the general frustration or morale issue is a strong feature in the choices that they're making. They are making those choices, because they are concerned about patient safety, because they can't do the job they joined for, because they've got skill decay. One paramedic said to me when I joined, I would go to a call into someone's house, introduce myself and start asking about them to tell me what's wrong. Now, what this paramedic said to me is that he finds himself doing is apologizing as soon as the front doors open for the delay."
He added: "Whether it's Emergency Medical Dispatchers, call center staff, or our people on the ground, are people on the ground they're just tired and frustrated by their inability to do the job. So that's coloring their perception of the strikes. So do I support them? I support the concern they've got and I support the concern they've got about patient safety and their inability to do the job.
"Our role in the strike situation is to continue to provide the best service we can with what we've got. And that's what we're trying to do. That's what we are doing. But you know, when you listen to staff, they've got genuine, very real concerns."
GMB Union members are striking in protest against the Welsh Government's pay offer of a £1,400 pay increase to most NHS staff - equivalent to a 7.5% increase for lower-paid staff in Bands 1 to 4 and a 4% increase in Bands 6-7.
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Some employees say this is not enough when compared to the current inflation rate of around 10.6% but no further offers have been put on the table. The Welsh Government claims it cannot address the pay issue without extra help from the UK government.
The union says that to end this dispute, GMB needs a concrete offer to help resolve the NHS’s "crushing recruitment and retention crisis". Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: "Ambulance workers across England and Wales will go on strike for the second time today.
“GMB cancelled a planned strike over the Christmas period to say thank you to the public for their incredible support. It also allowed time for the Government to talk to us about pay, but Ministers have dithered and postured, wasting valuable time.
"To end this dispute, GMB needs a concrete offer to help resolve the NHS’s crushing recruitment and retention crisis. The public expects the Government to treat this dispute seriously – it's time they got on with it.”
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