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News & Knowledge » Upcoming ambulance strikes and the impact this will have across the country
At a time where demand in the NHS is at its highest, it has recently been announced that thousands of NHS workers are set to go on strike from 21 – 28 December due to disputes over pay rises amid the cost of living crisis.
This is set to affect all but one ambulance trust in England and Wales with walkouts involving paramedics, control room staff and support workers throughout the country.
Strike action is likely to have a detrimental impact on the NHS despite pressure being even higher than ever before following the Covid-19 pandemic. Although it has been said that this will not affect those calling for life-threatening reasons and these calls will still be responded to.
Ambulance categories and response times
NHS Call categories and ambulance response time targets are as follows:
[1] Although these times are targets which aim to be met for every eventuality, certain areas of the country are struggling to meet these targets. Recent reports show that 83% of areas across England have missed the 7-minute target for category 1 calls [2].
There are also reports stating that 135,000 calls (one in four) were missed during October 2022 and an estimated 5,000 have suffered severe harm as a result of this [3]. Strike action means that these eventualities are only going to get worse over the coming weeks and the likelihood of longer wait times are significantly increased.
The backlog of patients waiting to be seen in A&E has a domino effect on the ambulance service. In recent weeks it has been found that ‘nearly three in 10 ambulances were caught queuing outside hospitals in England’ [4].
What does this mean for patients across the country?
As the weather plummets at this time of year, patients across the country are set to face an increased wait time where they are suffering with both non-urgent and life-threatening illnesses. This is already having an impact where recent media has shown that this is having a detrimental impact on people’s lives, causing death and other serious illnesses to arise.
Why make a clinical negligence claim?
Healthcare professionals have a duty of care to their patients and a responsibility to provide prompt and effective treatment. If you consider that you have waited well over the targeting response time limit for a serious injury and this has caused you a significant amount of harm, you may be entitled to compensation.
Further reading
Accident and emergency department claims – Oakwood Solicitors
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Oakwood Solicitors has a dedicated team of solicitors and paralegals who have many years’ experience dealing with medical negligence claims. If you believe or feel that you have a claim, you can contact the team on 0113 200 9720 for an initial consultation regarding your options and obtain some free legal advice.
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