Strikes by ambulance staff set to be ramped up next month

STRIKES by ambulance workers are set to be ramped up next month.

Members of the Unite union across the North, Midlands and Wales will join nurses and other 999 staff in the NHS mega-walkout on February 6.

They will also stage half a dozen other strikes in the coming weeks, with the first on Monday.

Others will take place on February 17 and 22, and March 6 and 20.

It leaves ministers facing the worst industrial action in NHS history.

During the two-day strike by 11,000 nursing staff this week, another 27,826 appointments and operations were cancelled.

In all, nearly 60,000 appointments have had to be rescheduled as a result of action by nurses.

But NHS bosses have told hospitals they can only axe cancer appointments “if all other options have been exhausted”.

Miriam Deakin, of NHS Providers, said: “More strikes will make an already incredibly difficult situation for patients and staff even harder.

“It’s imperative that the Government sit down with the unions immediately to resolve this.”

Unite’s national officer, Onay Kasab, told Times Radio: “We’re not seeing any real action by the Government. We’ve had no proposals, no offer.”

Downing Street insisted ministers are “very much open” to more talks.