The National Health Service (NHS) has advised people that are encountering less severe health concerns to go to a General Practitioner, pharmacy or use the NHS111 telephone advice service instead of dialling 999.
This advice came as a result of the strike embarked upon by ambulance workers as administrators told patients that ambulance response times may be longer than usual and that some patients may have to go to the hospital on their own instead of waiting for paramedics.
Thousands of ambulance staff in England and Wales belonging to the Unison or GMB unions has staged the second stoppage of their row with ministers over pay.
Meanwhile, NHS bosses feel this strike will disrupt more than the first, which happened on December 21, as it would involve more staff, including call handlers.
Miriam Deakin, the director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts said: “The picture will vary across the country, but with more staff expected to strike this time, the NHS is in an even more precarious position.”
According to her, trust leaders did what they could to lessen the impact of the strike but were “braced for another day of significant disruption”.
She said they were resigned to thousands of patients having their surgery or outpatient appointments postponed which caused “a knock-on effect on services in subsequent days” and the impact would be “harder to absorb” than last month.
Deakin has previously stated that NHS administrators “fully understand why overworked ambulance employees have been pushed to strike,” and that ministers must engage in genuine pay negotiations with the unions to avert further strikes. There will be a third ambulance strike on January 23.
According to Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of the London Ambulance Service (LAS), many of the LAS personnel will be on picket lines, which means some people who call 999 might not even get an ambulance.
He said people should only request an ambulance “when a life is at risk.”
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