Paramedics said colleagues are using foodbanks as unions ballot members for strike action in a pay dispute.
Ambulance workers could go on strike in what the GMB union's acting national secretary, Rachel Harrison, called "the biggest ambulance strike for 30 years", after a pay award of roughly 4% was "imposed" on NHS staff. With prices rising by 10% in the last year this would be a significant real terms pay cut for paramedics, call handlers and emergency medical dispatchers who earn between £20,000 and £31,000.
With interest rates soaring in recent weeks, staff with mortgages are feeling an extra squeeze. Paul Turner, the GMB's deputy secretary of the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) branch, said his own mortgage payments are currently predicted to go up £600 if interest rates remain high when his fixed-rate period ends. He told the ECHO: "We've got people in the ambulance service, and paramedics, who are relying on foodbanks.
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"Because of the way mortgages have changed, they're relying on overtime, which isn't always available. People can't even afford to live without doing overtime. They're getting into debt, they can't afford to pay the bills, where is this going to end?
"These are professionals trying to do a decent job, but if they're not even able to feed themselves, my question is, what's going to happen to them in the future? It's a career where we used to see people last until they retire. Now we see people come in for two or three years, they burn out and then they're gone."
Dave Robb, 64, is the Cheshire and Merseyside area convenor for Unite's NWAS branch. He said: "It saddens me, it saddens me deeply. I'm very much old school, I believe that if you go out to work, you should be able to earn enough money.
"We're not greedy people, we're not asking for millions, we're just asking for a decent living wage to be able to manage on a daily basis with our families and our other commitment like everybody else. I think it's sad that when people go out to do a full 40-hour week and work overtime on top of that, and still have to think about going to foodbanks."
Both GMB and Unite are balloting their 18,000 ambulance service members in England and Wales on strike action and action short of strike after indicative ballots by both unions saw roughly 98% vote in favour of strike. The results will be revealed at the end of November, but Paul, an NWAS paramedic for 15 years, said he's "never seen figures so high" as in the indicative ballot.
The 40-year-old blamed "huge issues going on behind the scenes" for fuelling the upset, including long A&E wait times, staff not getting meal breaks, and ambulance workers not finishing shifts on time. He told the ECHO: "They're not coping very well. If we go back a few years, the main reason staff were off was due to back injuries from lifting and carrying patients.
"But now, we're seeing people off with anxiety, depression and stress. And it's not just the ambulance technicians you see on the road - your paramedics and your technicians. There is a massive group of staff that people forget about, which is those who take 999 calls, your EMDs and your dispatchers."
More than half of NHS paramedics suffer from burnout due to heavy workloads and record numbers of emergency calls, posing "a genuine threat to retention in the ambulance service", according to a study published in the Journal of Paramedic Practice last year.
Over 30,000 ambulance staff quit the NHS between 2010 and 2018, the Mirror reports. Dave, a paramedic for 37 years, said: "We in the ambulance service nationally, and certainly within the North West, we have a real job now of retaining our paramedics.
"They're leaving in droves. Without proper pay structure and proper, recognised pay for the services that we deliver, it's just a constant battle. We need to now take this action to make the public aware of just how bad the situation is in the NHS, and certainly in the ambulance service."
Earlier this year, one Merseyside paramedic, who asked not to be named, told the ECHO colleagues were "coming back crying" after experiencing abuse from the public, along with frustrations with ambulance waiting times and a shortage of staff.
The 55-year-old said: "I love the job, and I really like working with my colleagues. That's the only reason I've stayed. If I go, that's another paramedic who's not frontline, and that's going to have an impact on my friends and my work colleagues. But at some stage, I'm gonna have to really look after my own well being and go, 'That's it. No more'."
It's not just the mental health of paramedics, call handlers and dispatchers put at risk. Rachel Harrison, GMB's acting national secretary, said: "Delays up to 26 hours and 135,000 vacancies across the NHS mean a third of GMB ambulance workers think a delay they've been involved with has led to a death."
As winter approaches and energy bills increase, Paul is worried about a rise in demand on the ambulance service from patients who "can't keep warm". So dire is the situation, the unions' indicative ballots suggest paramedics already struggling with the cost of living may be willing to forgo pay to walk out on strike.
Paul said: "I can put hand on heart that no paramedic, or anyone in the NHS as a whole, wants to take strike action because the public will say, 'Paramedics and technicians on strike is putting us at risk'. But actually, if I'm truly honest, the NHS is in such a bad position now, if these members don't take action, it's only going to get worse."
He added: "We've got to remember, this is the biggest national NHS dispute for years. It's not just the NHS, you've got postal workers and Royal Mail, all these industries can't all be wrong. It's just because it's the pinch every single time, and it sits with the individuals who can't afford to live."
Both Paul and Dave put blame at the door of the government, who they say have the power to give a better pay award to NHS workers. Both have little hope that the government will budge.
An NWAS spokesperson said it's difficult to judge how potential industrial action would affect its services until the format of any strike is known. This will be determined by the result of the ballots and whether the unions' members vote in favour of strike action, or industrial action short of strike.
The NWAS spokesperson told the ECHO: "This is the result of a national pay dispute and not one we can control. We recognise this is a difficult time across the country, including for our staff who work incredibly hard to support the people of the North West. We are keeping track of the situation and have plans to minimise any impact on patients should a future ballot result in industrial action."
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