Striking ambulance workers today urged the Government to give staff a pay rise and better working conditions, saying the service was at “breaking point”. On a picket line in Coventry, striking paramedics and union leaders accused the Government of “criminal negligence”, saying the Tories had "hollowed out" the NHS. Health Secretary Steve Barclay was also personally accused of "holding the country to ransom" by Unite leader Sharon Graham who joined the striking workers. Outside Coventry Ambulance Headquarters, paramedic Ryan Carruthers, 23, said he earns £24,000-a-year after joining West Midlands Ambulance Service in April. He said: “I am striking for fair pay and better working conditions for both our staff and the patients. “We work 12-hour shifts and work two days, two nights and then have four days off. “The days are very busy and we see so many patients. “It’s a lot of stress and we get many people angry with us when we don’t show up on time but it’s not our fault. “We have to wait so long in long queues at the hospitals to get our patients seen and it is not fair on them. “By striking we hope to retain more staff in the ambulance service by getting better working conditions. “We want to get our patients seen quicker. “Lots of people are leaving the services because of the working conditions. “The longest I’ve had to wait on the back of the ambulance getting a patient into hospital is eight hours but I know some of my crew have spent whole shifts just waiting in queues for their patients to be seen. “Last night there had been crews in Worcester in queues for 3,000 minutes waiting for their patients to be seen. “On social media there have been a lot of negative views about why we’re standing on the picket line, but we are not just fighting for pay we are fighting for better working conditions for the people. “The higher our moral is the more likely paramedics are going to want to stay in the service for and be there for people in need.” Also in Coventry was Jenny Withall, 32, who had been a paramedic since 2016. She joined colleagues on the picket line for two hours before returning to work when a 999 call came through. Before crossing the picket line, she said: “I am striking to try and sort the NHS out and help people out there struggling that we are just not getting too because of the working conditions. “We are holding at hospitals for hours and hours with patients that should be inside getting the treatment they deserve, but it is just a backlog. “The NHS is at breaking point and I don’t know how it is going to get better. “It’s horrible when there are patients who are struggling and you can’t help. “The toll is difficult on us and very draining “Sitting for four and five hours waiting outside a hospital is not good for us or our patients. “The pay rise would help sort these problems but it is not so much the pay for me, it’s trying to sort out the NHS. “If we did achieve our goals it would benefit everyone. “Everyone is supporting everyone in the strike whether they are stood on the picket line or working, we are all standing together and in it as a team.” Ambulance Technician Mike Smith, 51, has worked for the West Midlands Ambulance Service for 13 years and earns £40,000-a-year. Mike also returned to work to help a category one emergency. He said: “It’s not just about pay. “There are patients out there waiting for an ambulance to turn up for hours and we’re stuck at hospitals and can’t get out to them. “The hospitals are bed blocked because they can’t get their elderly patients out because there is not enough care home and care staff. “There is not enough funding in the NHS and I want the government to put more funding in. “There isn’t enough and social service are being cut. “If we were able to achieve our goals it would mean everything for our patients. “It would mean we wouldn’t be stuck at a hospital for six or seven hours on end waiting to off load our patients and would mean we could start seeing more patients. “The NHS is practically at a breaking point and someone out there is not looking at it properly. “They need to look at the whole system, not just the ambulance services and nurses – everyone is struggling. “It’s all understaffed and underfunded and it needs more money. “I am working today and we’re going out to category one life threatening jobs. “But, that is not what we are always going out too. We have to do jobs the should go GPs but they are understaffed to so we are having to take on the work. “The country is getting more and more elderly people and we need more resources to compensate and that is not what we have at the moment. “It’s draining. “When you go home and know there are patients out there that you couldn’t get too. “It’s difficult to talk about sometimes. “When you get to jobs with some elderly people, they have been waiting for 12 hours on the floor after falling over. “We don’t know about this because we are just gi
