We can't help when we're needed - Shropshire paramedic

Katie Nelson says the current situation is "incredibly demoralising"

A paramedic has said she is striking because she fears for patient safety, adding staff do not feel valued.

Katie Nelson, who works in Telford, Shropshire, said the situation was "incredibly demoralising" with most shifts spent queuing outside hospitals because of pressures and delays.

"Now we are not able to help the people who really need our help and that's not what we want to do," she said.

The government said it was investing £750m to speed up delayed discharges.

But Ms Nelson, who joined a picket line outside Donnington Ambulance Station, said the situation was getting "worse and worse".

"I think morale is at an all-time low to be honest with you. We are coming to work and we know that we're going to be queueing outside a hospital all day," she told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"We know patients are going to suffer, we know that we are going to be sitting there with one patient hearing shout after shout on the radio for people who are really, really unwell and who really need our help - and all the ambulances are parked up like a car park outside a hospital."

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Ms Nelson said the situation had "changed and flipped 180" since the pandemic lockdowns when fewer people went to hospital.

The workers at Donnington are among thousands who have walked out in the dispute over pay and conditions

Figures showed in December delays handing patients over totalled 47,635 hours in the West Midlands, the worst month on record, with two patients in Shropshire each waiting more than 32 hours to be admitted.

Ambulance staff have previously described long waits outside hospitals and Ms Nelson said she remembered an "entire" 12-hour shift spent outside a hospital with the first patient she responded to.

The woman "had already been on the floor for 18 hours when I got to her," said Ms Nelson, adding she had to hand the patient to another ambulance crew at the end of her shift, rather than the hospital.

"It's not the job I signed up for five years ago."

Ms Nelson added it was "still what she wanted to do", but the situation was unsustainable with a "systemic underfunding" of the NHS and staff leaving healthcare "in droves".

The paramedic said some said the strikes were letting down patients but people were often "in danger when we are not on strike".

"People are suffering anyway and it's that we want to change," she said.

Signs at the picket line at Donnington expressed concern for patient safety

The government said the NHS was facing an "unprecedented challenge", but it was providing extra funding to help, including a £500m winter fund.

"We recognise the pressures the NHS is facing following the impact of the pandemic and are working tireless to ensure people get the care they need," a spokesman for the Department for Health and Social Care said.