16 May East of England Ambulance staff could go on strike
By Matthew Porter
FRONTLINE ambulance staff could go on strike in protest against excessive working hours and a lack of proper breaks during their shifts.
Trade union Unison has informed the East of England Ambulance Service it will ballot staff over possible strike action after accusing managers of failing to tackle the problem.
According to Unison, 2,995 shifts within the service finished more than an hour later than planned in December, which rose to 3,639 shifts in January.
Shifts are meant to be no more than 12 hours long, but the union claims workers are regularly working for 13 to 18 hours and a time, with one recorded instance of a 20.5 hour shift earlier this year.
Unison also states frontline staff regularly only get a 30-minute meal break during their shift, when they are entitled to 45 minutes.
Unison branch secretary Fraer Stevenson said: “After a year of broken promises, our crews are still faced with unacceptable working conditions.
“Frontline staff are caring people, committed to providing excellent patient care but they’re human beings too and they need to be cared for by their employer.
“15 hour shifts with just a half hour unpaid break are now commonplace. Ambulance staff carry out life saving work in their communities and deserve better treatment.
“Theirs is already a stressful job, being made almost unbearable by the excessive working hours staff regularly find themselves working.
“No wonder so many have already left the service, and that many more say they want to quit.
“It’s heart breaking to see front line staff working under such pressure and for the trust’s board to be given repeated evidence of this – but fail to act.”
Ms Stevenson claims there has been “no meaningful action” during more than a year of meetings with trust management about the issue.
