Paramedics 'are spending shifts stuck in car park'

AMBULANCE STAFF JOINING STRIKES OVER CONDITIONS

- AMBER EDWARDS

PLYMOUTH paramedics say they spend their shifts "stuck in a car park" all day and that it is "rare to go out on a job" Ambulance workers on the picket line at Derriford have shared their reasons for joining the national strike.

Up to 25,000 ambulance workers across England and Wales have gone on strike in a dispute with the Government over pay and working conditions. Paramedics, call handlers, drivers and technicians from the Unison and GMB unions took part in staggered strikes across a 24-hour period.

Paramedics say they are currently unable to do their jobs due to spending the majority of their shifts sat in ambulances outside Derriford Hospital for "hours and hours and hours" with just one patient.

Neil Armstrong, a paramedic with South Western Ambulance Service, was on the picket line on Wednesday.

He said: "We're striking today over pay and conditions. The pay has not been in line with the rate of inflation and paramedics and emergency care assistants are not earning as much money as we did ten years ago in line with the Government's inflation."