Health
Thousands of ambulance workers strike as unions accuse Steve Barclay of ‘blatant lie’ – live | Industrial action
Unison and Unite accuse Steve Barclay of lying when he accused unions of obstructing strike-day contingency planning
Andrew Sparrow
Over on our politics blog, my colleague Andrew Sparrow has pulled together the criticism from union bosses of Steve Barclay’s accusations:
Turning back to the ambulance strike, the row generated by Steve Barclay’s claim that the unions made “a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients” (see 9.19am) because they were obstructing strike-day contingency planning seems to be escalating. Christina McAnea, the Unison general secretary, posted messages on Twitter this morning saying she was shocked by the comments, but later she went further, accusing the health secretary of “a complete and utter fabrication”.
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said the same thing in marginally blunter language. She said:
To say that ambulance unions have taken a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients is a blatant lie. The unions have negotiated critical cover, including 999 calls, at a local level with hosts of NHS Trusts. That is how it is done.
Stephen Barclay obviously doesn’t understand how these issues are dealt with in the NHS. That is an embarrassment for him and the government. He has now lost all credibility. Clearly he isn’t the man for the job. He’s well past his sell-by date.
And her Unite colleague, Onay Kasab, told GB News that far from complaining about the contingency cover for strike day at their meeting yesterday, Barclay was congratulating unions for their work. Kasab said:
I was at the meeting yesterday with the secretary of state, and obviously I must have been in the wrong room. Because when I thought we met with him, he clearly congratulated the trade unions for working with the trusts and for working with the government to put emergency measures in place which made sure that people were safe as possible today.
And yet the statements he made this morning bear absolutely no resemblance to the meeting we were in yesterday, unfortunately.
You can follow more of Andy’s reporting here:
Key events
Analysis: NHS pay is a risky issue for Sunak to get tough about
Pippa Crerar
When Rishi Sunak appeared in front of parliament’s powerful liaison committee this week he doubled down on NHS pay rises in what looked very much like an attempt to turn the winter of strikes into his Thatcher moment.
Just like his political heroine before him, he faced down the unions, telling MPs the country could not afford bigger public sector pay rises, warning they risked making inflation worse – and that politicians should not “cut across” the independent pay review process.
The prime minister, who in recent weeks has been forced into U-turns on housebuilding targets and onshore windfarms by Tory party rebellions, appeared to see the strikes as an opportunity to prove wrong those who have accused him of being weak.
He has flatly denied reports that he is preparing to climb down in his trial of strength with union leaders, warning striking workers he would hold out against their “unreasonable” pay demands for months if necessary.
His ministers have accused the unions of “holding the country to ransom”, just as Thatcher did in 1979 before a Tory landslide election victory. And he has challenged the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, to back anti-strike legislation, to be brought in next year, in the belief the public will be on his side.
It is a risky strategy. More than 1.5 million workers have been balloted for strike action this winter – meaning that most people will know someone taking industrial action, and can see for themselves that they are, like everybody else, struggling with the cost of living.
Read more here:
Afternoon summary
Rachel Hall
Thousands of ambulance workers in England and Wales launched a 24-hour strike action over real-terms salary cuts this morning after talks broke down with the government. Here are the key developments from today:
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Health secretary Steve Barclay enraged union leaders and healthcare workers by using an incendiary article in this morning’s edition of the Daily Telegraph to accuse them of making a “conscious decision” to “inflict harm” on patients. Christina McAnea, the Unison general secretary, said that if there were any deaths during the strike it would “absolutely” be the fault of the government.
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Barclay subsequently denied escalating the dispute. Asked on BBC Breakfast whether his language in the Daily Telegraph was “ramping up this current atmosphere”, he said the unions involved – GMB, Unite and Unison – had “refused to work with us on a national level” compared with the Royal College of Nursing. Unite said it would meet for pay negotiations “anytime, anywhere”.
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Speaking on the picket line, Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, accused Barclay of “complete and utter fabrication” and “fear mongering”. She warned there may be further strikes in the new year if ministers do not negotiate.
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Ambulance workers on the picket line shared stories of getting paid less than in call centres, and colleagues going to food banks or approaching their union’s welfare department to try to make ends meet amid the cost-of-living crisis.
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By 10am, the majority of ambulance trusts had declared so-called critical incidents, with many stating they were already facing huge pressure before strikes began on Wednesday.
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999 calls plummeted in some areas of the country, prompting warnings from senior medics that those in need of emergency care may not be coming forward.
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In Scotland, midwives and nurses rejected a ‘best and final’ pay deal which could pave the way for strike action.
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Wales’s ambulance service said it had been “noticeably quieter” today and disruption would continue into the morning.
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NHS leaders warned that the fallout from strike action this week was likely to spill over into the coming days. They are especially concerned about patients whose conditions might have deteriorated due to delays in seeking help.
NHS leaders warn the fallout from strike action will continue tomorrow
The fallout from strike action this week is likely to spill over into the coming days, NHS leaders have warned.
PA reports that the membership organisation for NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services, NHS Providers, has voiced concerns specifically around patients whose conditions might have deteriorated due to delays in seeking help.
Saffron Cordery, the interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said:
Leaders across the NHS also know that as this week’s strike action draws to a close, the disruption is far from over.
The fallout from strike action is likely to spill over into the coming days due to the knock-on impact across different parts of the health and care system, the need to reschedule elective and outpatient appointments, and the anticipation of a return to very high numbers of emergency calls.
There is particular concern about patients who may have delayed seeking care – and whose conditions have deteriorated – now coming forward for treatment.
Some health leaders and staff have felt “a sense of helplessness and moral injury” amid strike action, NHS Providers said, as the organisation appealed for “urgent, serious talks – including on pay” to be held between the government and unions to avert further industrial action.
Cordery added:
Despite their best efforts, we have also heard reports of leaders and their staff feeling a sense of helplessness and moral injury at not being able to help everyone who needs the NHS and the care it provides.
This is distressing and a reflection of the enormous pressure NHS staff are under, the standard to which they hold themselves, and the quality of care they want to give patients.
Trust leaders will learn from the events of this week to strengthen plans for next week’s strike action by ambulance workers.
They do of course understand how strongly nurses and ambulance staff feel and why below-inflation pay awards against a backdrop of the rising cost of living, severe staff shortages and ever-increasing workloads have brought them to take strike action this week.
They are once again reiterating their call for urgent, serious talks – including on pay – between health ministers and unions to avert more strikes in the future.
An anaesthetist has tweeted that he’s seen “strong backing from the public” for striking healthcare staff today.
On the 13th floor of his hospital, he says he can hear cars frequently honking in support and cheers from picketing nurses.
Strong backing from the public today for striking nurses – up on the 13th floor we can hear cars honking in support every few seconds, and cheers from the picketing nurses in response 🚙💙
You can show your support by donating to the strike fund here:https://t.co/9Pbq0RQ3AM pic.twitter.com/sO4eEbV3xx
— Tom Dolphin 🏳️⚧️ (@thomasdolphin) December 20, 2022
Wales’s ambulance service chief says it has been ‘noticeably quieter’ for ambulances
Steven Morris
The Guardian’s reporter in Wales, Steven Morris, has the latest on the situation for the ambulance service in Wales:
Jason Killens, the chief executive of the service in Wales, said that during Wednesday’s day shift about half of ambulance crews have worked normally. A quarter were on complete strike. The final quarter were responding only to red and some of the most serious amber 1 callouts. Some call handlers in the 111 service also took strike action.
He said fewer people had dialled 999 – and there were fewer delays outside accident and emergency departments.
Killens said:
Activity has been down – it is noticeably quieter … We’ve been very clear with hospitals that we needed them to turn the fleet round quicker and they heeded that. I suspect they’ve moved patients through, allowed more patients in emergency departments, more patients in other parts of the hospital. We’ve seen better handover times.
There’ll be disruption into tomorrow morning. Normal service should be resumed by the day shift tomorrow – 7am. There are no obvious cases of severe harm or death.
The Guardian’s video team have put together footage of picket lines and interviews with union organisers. You can watch here:
Rod Dacombe, who worked for the ambulance service during the pandemic, has written a piece for the Guardian, voicing his support for his erstwhile colleagues, saying the government’s strategy to turn the public against striking healthcare workers is “electorally perilous”.
He writes:
In stark contrast to Johnson’s rhetoric during the pandemic, the government’s response has so far involved stonewalling on the question of pay and deflecting the blame for patient harm on to striking workers. This approach has been echoed and bolstered by craven attacks from the rightwing commentariat – former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie described striking ambulance workers as ‘vile shitbags’. But, as I know well from my current academic work, these positions are not only out of step with public sentiment (a recent poll suggested almost two-thirds of Britons support the striking ambulance staff), they also ignore recent history.
The last ambulance strike, in 1989, continued for several months, and caused extreme hardship for those involved. It ended because, to the surprise of the government at the time, public sentiment remained steadfastly behind frontline ambulance workers. Attempts to turn the tide of opinion against NHS staff failed miserably, and it seems remarkable that the current government looks set to repeat the same mistakes at a time when its own position is so electorally perilous.
The Guardian’s graphics team have produced this handy interactive showing all the days when strikes are planning in December – useful for preparing, and also assessing just how widespread frustration with pay is.