Nurses and ambulance staff striking across region

Scott Jenkin was among nurses striking at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro

Nurses and ambulance staff have been joining strike picket lines across the South West.

It is the first time ambulance crews and nurses have walked out on the same day since NHS industrial action started in December.

NHS England said it is the biggest round of strikes to have hit the health service.

There are picket lines at Torbay, Derriford, Royal Devon, North Devon and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals.

The picket line at Torbay Hospital was kept entertained by a singer for part of the day

Royal College of Nursing members are striking in a third of England's NHS trusts.

Scott Jenkin, a nurse anaesthetist at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, said: "I'm striking because we need to save the NHS.

"Nursing staff have been underpaid for at least the last 12 years, they are burnt out from working through Covid and there is now not enough of us."

Nurses and ambulance staff have been taking industrial action

Paramedic Neil Armstrong was on the picket line in Plymouth and said: "I just want to reassure the public that today we are responding to category one and category two calls from the picket lines.

"So the highest priority of calls will be responded to and that is probably better than your average day."

Eva Gallego trains intensive care nurses at the Royal Cornwall Hospital and said: "We are losing all the experienced nurses out of stress and we are recruiting new nurses that are not having the support that they need to thrive in such a specialised environment.

Eva Gallego said she was striking because "the whole system is clogged"

"The working conditions are getting much, much worse.

"People are sicker. They come to us much later so they have deteriorated.

"The waiting times that we have with the ambulances... with getting a bed, with getting someone out of hospital - the whole system is clogged."

Further strikes will follow later in the week, including a walkout by physiotherapists.

NHS Providers chief Sir Julian Hartley said health bosses wanted to see fresh negotiations given that walkouts had been suspended in Scotland and Wales following new pay offers.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said ministers had met the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body.

He warned the walkouts this week would "undoubtedly have an impact on patients and cause delays".