Trust the British public’s common sense during ambulance strike, health secretary Steve Barclay says

Published

3 years ago

December 20, 2022

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People have been urged to “drink responsibly” by NHS England’s medical director to avoid ending up in A&E as ambulance workers prepare to strike.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis issued the warning ahead of the planned action on Wednesday, when the health service is likely to be hit by major disruption as ambulance workers, including paramedics, control room workers and technicians, walk out in England and Wales.

Health secretary Steve Barclay has said the British public’s “common sense” should be trusted on what is safe during the industrial action.

Nurses launch second day of strikes – live politics updates

But issuing the latest NHS guidance, Sir Stephen said: “There is no doubt that the NHS is facing extreme pressure and industrial action will add to the already record demand we are seeing on urgent and emergency care, and so it is really important that the public play their part by using services wisely.

“People can also help by taking sensible steps to keep themselves and others safe during this period and not ending up in A&E – whether that is drinking responsibly or checking up on a family member of neighbour who may be particularly vulnerable to make sure they are okay.”

Ministers and NHS leaders have said people can still call 999 for emergencies – but should take extra steps to keep themselves and others safe while there is so much pressure on health services.

Asked if people should be more cautious during strikes this week, Mr Barclay said: “We should trust the common sense of the British public.

“They can see that there will be pressures, particularly on ambulances.”

Nurses with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union are striking today and ambulance workers are walking out on Wednesday over a dispute on pay and working conditions.

On Tuesday morning, health minister Will Quince said the public should avoid “risky activity” during the ambulance strike as he urged people to alter their plans to minimise the danger of injuring themselves.

Unions have said ambulance workers will still attend Category 1 (most life-threatening such as cardiac arrest) and Category 2 (serious conditions, such as stroke or chest pain) calls during the strike.

However, ministers said there were still questions over whether ambulance workers at every NHS trust striking were going to do that.

Mr Barclay added: “They’ve said that they will provide life-threatening cover, that they will provide emergency cover.

“It’s essential that they do so to protect patients, because if there’s delays in ambulances, obviously that impacts very seriously on patient safety.

“But of course, the British public will make sensible decisions in terms of their behaviour based on what they can see in terms of the pressures on the health system.”

He added that if it was “extremely icy, you might not go for a run”.

The prime minister’s spokesman said he was “not going to get into a list” of what “risky activities” people should avoid during the ambulance strike.

By lunchtime on Tuesday, several ambulance and hospital trusts across the country had declared critical incidents due to “sustained” and “unprecedented” pressure on services, including high 999 call volumes and hospital handover delays.

Unions were meeting the health secretary this afternoon ahead of Wednesday’s ambulance worker strikes but union heads did not expect a pay offer to be made.

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Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: “We’ve been given half an hour to meet with the secretary of state to discuss an emergency cover for tomorrow, which considering our strike starts at midnight, is a bit late in the day.

“But those agreements have already been reached at local level. So unless the secretary of state is willing to talk to us about pay today, those strikes are set to go ahead.”

Earlier, Mr Quince told Sky News the meeting would be about which cases ambulance workers would have to go to during the strike – and not pay.

World

Israel silences more crucial reporting voices from inside Gaza

Published

5 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Israel silences more crucial reporting voices from inside Gaza

The targeted killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif and four other colleagues by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) late on Sunday silences more crucial reporting voices from inside Gaza.

The IDF wasted no time in releasing a statement claiming it had “eliminated” Al-Sharif, calling him a “terrorist” who “posed” as a journalist for Al Jazeera.

Gaza latest: Follow live updates

The Committee to Protect Journalists warned in July that Al-Sharif was the victim of an Israeli smear campaign and that they feared for his safety.

The IDF had previously released documents which they say proved his involvement with Hamas.

No word from them on his colleagues – Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa – who they also killed. We are chasing.

Al-Sharif’s death – and that of his four colleagues – is a chilling message to the journalistic community both on the ground and elsewhere ahead of Israel’s impending push into Gaza City.

There will now be fewer journalists left to cover that story, and – if it is even possible – they will be that bit more fearful.

This is how journalists are silenced. Israel knows this full well.

It has also not allowed international journalists independent access to enter Gaza to report on the war.

Al-Sharif’s death has sent shockwaves across the region, where he was a household name. He was prolific on social media and had a huge following.

I was watching horrifying footage of the immediate aftermath of the strike in the taxi on my way into the bureau, and the driver told me how he and his family had all cried for Anas when the news came in.

His little daughter cried because of Al-Sharif’s little daughter, Sham, who she knew from social media.

“They call everyone Hamas,” my taxi driver said. “Men, women, children”.

Last month, Al-Sharif wrote this post: “I haven’t stopped covering [the crisis] for a moment in 21 months, and today I say it outright… and with indescribable pain.

“I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment… Gaza is dying. And we die with it.”

This is what journalists in Gaza are facing, every single day.

World

Israel’s PM tries to get on front foot in propaganda war he knows he is losing

Published

11 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Israel's PM tries to get on front foot in propaganda war he knows he is losing

Israel’s prime minister added more detail to his deeply controversial plans for military escalation in Gaza at a news conference with foreign media yesterday – despite the condemnation of the UN Security Council, which met in an emergency session and urged him to rethink.

Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “fairly short timetable” to establish designated “safe zones” for the one million or so set to be displaced from Gaza City.

He also vowed to seize and dismantle Hamas’s final strongholds there – in the central refugee camps, and in al Mawasi, along Gaza’s southwestern coast.

This, per Netanyahu, is the only way to destroy the terror group, which he claimed “subjugates Gazans, steals their food and shoots them when they try to move to safety”.

Al Mawasi is already home to a significant displaced population, most of whom live in tents cramped up against the Mediterranean Sea, in what is already a designated humanitarian zone.

If members of Hamas live among them, rooting them out will be hugely complicated and will involve significant civilian casualties. If the residents of Gaza City can’t evacuate south to al Mawasi, where will they go?

Netanyahu’s plan is to set up more aid distribution sites through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and to flood Gaza with food.

He claimed his policy was not one of forced starvation – describing particular photos of starving babies as “fake news”, and accusing the media of painting a false picture.

“The only ones who are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages,” the prime minister claimed.

I asked Netanyahu how he would go about preventing the kinds of daily killings taking place at aid distribution points in the months since GHF has been operating.

Doctors Without Borders has described these incidents as deliberately orchestrated.

The prime minister said increasing the amount of aid heading into the Strip was the answer.

“And by the way, a lot of the firing was done by Hamas seeking to have a response by our forces,” he added. “And very often they didn’t, they held back. They stayed their own fire even though their own lives were on the line.”

This was Israel’s prime minister trying to get on the front foot in a propaganda war he acknowledged he was losing. He was loath to admit the presence of famine in Gaza.

It took two questions before he acknowledged there was “deprivation”, even if he would not be drawn on whether his 11-week total blockade of the strip earlier this year had played any role.

He recognises that the appalled response of the international community to the human cost of this war, and the accusations of war crimes and genocide which Israel so vehemently rejects, are a terrible look.

This was his attempt to reclaim the narrative.

World

Defiant Netanyahu sets out plan for military escalation in Gaza – and describes photographs of starving babies as ‘fake news’

Published

17 hours ago

August 10, 2025