Yorkshire NHS strikes: Nurses and ambulance staff on picket lines

Ambulance workers joined nursing staff in a further day of walkouts in Leeds

Nurses and ambulance staff in Yorkshire have joined the biggest ever day of industrial action in the NHS.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing and ambulance staff from the GMB and Unite unions have walked out amid concerns about pay and patient safety.

On the picket line at Bradford Royal Infirmary, discharge coordinator Helen Peacock said: "We are asking for a fair pay rise, we're not asking for a lot."

The government has said the unions' pay demands were unaffordable.

NHS England said the round of strikes on Monday was the biggest to have hit the health service, with Royal College of Nursing members in a third of England's NHS trusts on strike on Monday.

Further action is expected to follow later in the week, including a physios walkout.

Ms Peacock said: "We haven't had a fair pay rise for many years now and we've just come to the point where we have to take action because the government just aren't taking any notice of our requests.

"It's a real shame the government won't sit down and speak to us."

A picket line formed outside Bradford Royal Infirmary on Monday

It is the fifth time staff have walked out in the current dispute

Also on the picket line at Bradford Royal Infirmary, staff nurse Jess Smith said: "I think it's just incredibly disappointing we're here. It's day five and nobody is talking.

"In Wales, they have had an offer now from the government and strikes are on hold. But we haven't even entered any discussions, it's just incredibly disappointing.

"The hospital is still staffed, the point is that the wards have been understaffed for a long time. There are times when we can be looking after 14 patients to one nurse - and that is not a safe ratio."

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Meanwhile, Inga Kirk, assistant theatre practitioner at Bradford Royal Infirmary, said: "I thought we would have had some sort of resolve by now, some sort of offer.

"It's not just about pay, it is about working conditions, it is about patient safety and saving patients' and people's lives."

Paramedic Ruby Arthur said the NHS was struggling to cope with demand

The government has said the unions' pay demands are unaffordable

On the picket line outside York Hospital, orthopaedic nurse Jeanette Judds said she was there to support her colleagues and "make a stand".

"Nursing has for a long time been underpaid, we are very overstretched at the moment and staffing levels aren't safe," she said.

In Leeds, paramedic Ruby Arthur said she was striking for more than just pay.

She said: "I think mainly it's about the work conditions that we are dealing with in the NHS at the minute and the extreme pressures that are on everyone.

"We are working on a lot of goodwill with people doing overtime, there's not enough staff to cover the demand that we have constantly ,and the patients aren't always getting the best care because the delays at hospitals and everywhere in the NHS are too long.

"The whole service is struggling."

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

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

A number of unions have suspended strike action in Wales after a pay offer was made to physios, midwives and nurses.

Only Unite, which represents some ambulance staff, is going ahead with its planned action there on Monday.