Yorkshire Ambulance Service warns of 999 call disruption as staff resume strike

Yorkshire Ambulance Service said 999 calls were likely to be delayed.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) has warned of delays in responding to emergency calls as staff strike.

Paramedics and call handlers are among those set to walk out later in an ongoing dispute with the government.

Unite members in April voted to reject ministers' pay offer, which the union said did not address "fundamental problems undermining the NHS".

Health secretary Steve Barclay said staff had been offered "a fair pay rise".

Unite members at YAS will walkout between 14:00 and 22:00 BST as the union looks to pressure the government into reopening negotiations.

The service said all of its operations were likely to be disrupted, with emergency ambulances, 999 call handling and the NHS 111 service expected to be hardest hit.

Nick Smith, executive director at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: "It's very important that people use our emergency service appropriately on Friday so that resources can be focused where they are needed, and particularly on very serious and life-threatening incidents."

He urged people to only call 999 "when someone is in a life-threatening or very serious condition" and asked patients waiting for an ambulance to only call back if their symptoms worse.

'Staff leaving in droves'

More than a million NHS staff in England began receiving 5% salary increases on Thursday after members of some of the biggest NHS unions, including Unison and the GMB, accepted the offer earlier this year.

But Unite members and those in the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) rejected it.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "The current pay deal does not address the fundamental problems undermining the NHS. Workers have suffered real terms pay cuts for over a decade and can no longer afford to make ends meet, resulting in experienced staff leaving the NHS in droves."

Mr Barclay said: "We're giving nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists and other eligible staff a fair pay rise, which will see for example, band six staff getting an extra £5,000 over two years.

"We hugely value the work of NHS staff and the vital role they're playing to cut waiting lists, which is one of the government's five priorities, and recognises the work they put in day in and day out."

Unite is the smallest of the three ambulance unions, representing about 3,000 workers nationwide.

Both Unison and the GMB staged strikes earlier this year.

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