999 strikers face tough new laws: Proposed legislation would FORCE striking ambulance drivers to attend heart attack and stroke patients after union militants ‘refused to cooperate with military in Wales’
- PM Rishi Sunak is considering whether to ban strikes on all blue-light services
- In parts of the country unions would not guarantee cover for ‘category two’ calls
- The change is likely to require them by law to provide at least category two cover
- Government sources say yesterday’s walkout strengthens case for changing law
Striking ambulance drivers will be forced to respond to 999 calls involving suspected heart attacks and strokes under proposed new laws.
Government sources told the Mail that yesterday’s walkout by paramedics ‘strengthens the case’ for changing the law to compel them to provide minimum levels of service during strikes.
Ministers have been horrified by the refusal of union bosses to negotiate national agreements guaranteeing a basic life-saving service. In some parts of the country, unions would not even guarantee cover for so-called ‘category two’ calls, which include heart attacks, strokes, burns and epilepsy.
Government sources told the Mail that yesterday’s walkout by paramedics ‘strengthens the case’ for changing the law to compel them to provide minimum levels of service during strikes
Union representatives stationed in some call centres agreed to let members off picket lines to respond to non-life-threatening calls only on a case-by-case basis.
Up to 10,000 ambulance workers, including paramedics, technicians and call handlers, joined the industrial action at ten out of the 11 ambulance trusts in England and Wales.
Ambulance trusts say 999 calls were lower than usual, raising fears patients held off seeking help and will be sicker when they flood phone lines and A&E departments today and tomorrow.
A Government source said that in Wales – where Labour runs the health service – unions had ‘point-blank refused’ to co-operate with the military, making it impossible to use troops to help provide cover. The source said the difficulties meant it was likely that new ‘minimum service levels’ legislation originally designed for the militant transport unions, would be extended to the ambulance service in the New Year.
Ambulance trusts say 999 calls were lower than usual, raising fears patients held off seeking help and will be sicker when they flood phone lines and A&E departments today and tomorrow
The change is likely to require them by law to provide at least category two cover.
Rishi Sunak, who has promised ‘tough’ new laws to combat strikes, is also considering whether to go a step further and extend the ban on strike action by the police to cover all blue-light services.
‘The behaviour we have seen from the unions in the last few days has strengthened the case for imposing minimum service levels,’ a source said.
‘They have refused to agree cover at a national level, and in many cases the agreements at a local level have not been adequate or have come very late.’ Health Secretary Steve Barclay is said to be ‘very concerned’ about the lack of co-operation on vital cover from the unions involved – GMB, Unison and Unite.
Asked why there was not a national contingency plan in place for the industrial action, he said union bosses had ‘refused to put in place national exemptions’, adding: ‘The difficulty with putting contingency measures in place is given the uncertainty as to what exactly is and is not being covered, and the fact that those decisions in some cases will be taken on the day.’ A health source said: ‘We don’t want strikes at all, but if they are going to take place in the health sector then we need to be able to agree cover to protect the public.
Rishi Sunak, who has promised ‘tough’ new laws to combat strikes, is also considering whether to go a step further and extend the ban on strike action by the police to cover all blue-light services
‘The nurses were fairly reasonable on that front, but that is not true of the ambulance unions.
‘We’ve heard a lot from the unions about their commitment to patient safety but in Wales they point-blank refused to co-operate with the military.’ A government source said. ‘The result is there is no military cover in Wales. There are also big questions for Labour, which runs the NHS in Wales, about why they allowed this to happen.’
Defence sources confirmed that only one minor request has been received from Wales, with the Ministry of Defence asked to provide 20 personnel to drive empty ambulances on the next strike date on December 28.
The managing director of a private ambulance company said he offered emergency cover to every ambulance trust only to be turned down or passed from pillar to post. Rob Willis, from MED-PTS Ambulance Services Ltd, said: ‘We have six vehicles on standby to help the NHS and we’ve been ringing around trusts offering them – but most of them have been saying “we’re okay”.’
The company provides patient transfer and high dependency unit services on an ad-hoc basis for several NHS trusts – as well as A&E services for private patients.
Mr Willis added: ‘During Covid, we got approached by trusts to go out to different parts of the UK – we went everywhere during Covid. It’s no different from that, we should have gotten the call.’
NHS sources say union members had told some trusts that they would cut back on the level of service they were prepared to offer if they brought in additional private cover.
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, accused Mr Barclay of ‘complete and utter fabrication’.
She told the picket line at Waterloo in London: ‘He knows full well we have been negotiating for the last two or three weeks that where our members are taking strike action to put in place contingency plans and to suggest anything else is just disgraceful.
‘If anyone is responsible for things that happen it is that Government in Westminster who have steadfastly refused to talk to us about anything related to pay.’
Source: Read Full Article
