North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) is urging the public to only dial 999 for an ambulance during strike days for life-threatening conditions or injury.
Three unions have voted to part in industrial action because of a national dispute with the Government over the 2022/23 pay award:
- GMB – 21 and 28 December 00.01h to 23.59h (24 hours)
- Unite – 21 December 00.01h to 23.59h (24 hours)
- Unison – 21 December 12:00h – 00.00h (12 hours)
NEAS says it has put in place a number of contingency plans for the national strikes by healthcare unions and has agreed some exemptions to allow it to respond to high acuity life-threatening cases during the strike.
However the service said it will not be able to respond to all calls of a serious nature and there are likely to be significant delays in response for patients who have a less serious illness or injury.
Stephen Segasby, chief operating officer at NEAS, said: “Our priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all our patients and staff. We have planned with great care for this strike, but our services will be extremely busy and we do expect them to be severely disrupted.
“We also anticipate that the days after the strike will be busy and as we head into an extended bank holiday over Christmas, we want to encourage people to use services wisely and prepare where possible.
“Ambulances will still be able to respond during the strike, but this will only be where there is an immediate risk to life.
“This means that less serious calls will not receive a response for the duration of the strike action and some patients might be asked to make their own way to hospital, where it is safe for them to so.
“Patients waiting for an ambulance should only call back if your symptoms worsen so that our health advisors are available to take new emergency calls or to cancel an ambulance if alternative transport has been arranged.”
The warning came just 24 hours after NEAS declared a ‘critical incident’ as a result of unprecedented pressure impacting its ability to respond to patients.
The incident was declared yesterday (Monday) afternoon as a result of significant delays for more than 200 patients waiting for an ambulance, together with a reduction in ambulance crew availability to respond because of delays in handing over patients at the region’s hospitals.
Stephen Segasby added: “Our service is under unprecedented pressure. Declaring a critical incident means we can focus our resources on those patients most in need and communicates the pressures we are under to our health system partners who can provide support.
“We are asking the public to call us only in a life-threatening emergency. For all other patients, we are urging them to use www.111.nhs.uk, speak to their GP or pharmacist.
“Our staff and volunteers continue to work extremely hard to respond to calls and incidents. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work and commitment at this challenging time.”
The Trust has been operating at its highest level of operational alert since December 5.
Declaring a critical incident allows NEAS to instigate several additional measures to protect patient safety including:
- Seeking mutual aid
- Cancelling all training to allow for the redeployment of all clinical staff
- No longer taking bookings for urgent, non-emergency transportation
- Increasing third party provider provision
