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The number of people phoning 999 appears to have dropped in parts of England as thousands of ambulance staff and paramedics strike until midnight.

The West Midlands Ambulance Trust thanked people for heeding their advice to only call in an emergency as ambulance trusts reported receiving fewer calls.

The drop in calls comes as health leaders have urged people to still phone for an ambulance if they are in a life-threatening emergency.

It is feared some people in desperate need of help will not phone 999 during the strike action.

Hundreds of members of the army, navy and RAF have been drafted in to cover as paramedics, technicians, control room workers and other staff in England are on strike.

All Category 1 calls (the most life-threatening, such as cardiac arrest) are being responded to during the walkouts, while some ambulance trusts have agreed exemptions with unions for specific incidents within Category 2 (serious conditions, such as stroke or chest pain).

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‘We want to reassure patients’

Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), said: “There may be a number of reasons why 999 calls are dropping – hesitancy may be a key factor during the industrial action.

“We want to reassure patients and the public that if they need emergency care, A&Es remain open.”

The Welsh Ambulance Service has said demand is “manageable” but any “influx of calls would put significant pressure on our service”.

A member of the military walks nearby an ambulance, on the day ambulance workers strike amid a dispute with the government over pay, near the NHS London Ambulance Service, in London, Britain December 21, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
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Members of the armed forces have been drafted in to help

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Members of the armed forces are not due to be sent on critical emergency callouts or to carry out clinical tasks.

Meanwhile, the East Midlands Ambulance Service said it was too early to say how the service was coping.

Up to half of its more than 4,000 workforce were GMB members who were striking.

South Central Ambulance Service said its main impact from strikes was patient transport services in Sussex and Surrey, rather than urgent and emergency care services.

The London Ambulance Service declined to comment on how services were running.

Ambulance workers take part in a strike, amid a dispute with the government over pay, outside NHS London Ambulance Service in London, Britain December 21, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
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Ambulance workers take part in strike action in London
Ambulance workers take part in a strike, amid a dispute with the government over pay, outside NHS London Ambulance Service in London, Britain December 21, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Thursday and Friday ‘expected to be busy’

Meanwhile, a chief executive of a large northern teaching trust told the Health Service Journal (HSJ) it had “so far not (been) as bad as I’d feared in terms of hospital pressures – in fact, (emergency departments) are less pressured than usual.

“We haven’t seen cars/taxis with patients arriving in large numbers but the problem is that much of the risk is not currently visible to us given people will be at home.

“We therefore expect very busy days on Thursday and Friday.”

It comes as the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan declared a critical incident and said it was full after facing “unprecedented pressures” in its A&E department.

The strike action has taken place as there is a bitter war of words between unions and Health Secretary Steve Barclay who has said he will not back down on pay.

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‘I cannot express how bad it is’ – paramedic

Health secretary accused of ‘blatant lie’

Mr Barclay said the Unite, Unison and GMB unions had “refused” to work with the government at the national level to set out plans for dealing with the strikes.

But the unions said all those agreements had been made locally and were in place.

From a picket line in Longford, Coventry, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham accused Mr Barclay of a “blatant lie” for saying ambulance unions had taken a “conscious decision” to inflict harm on patients.

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Health sec criticises timing of ambulance strike

Meanwhile, a paramedic in Nottinghamshire said patients’ lives have been at risk for a long time due to issues in the NHS.

Tom, 33, from the East Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “I’ve attended elderly patients who have been on the floor with broken hips for over 20 hours.

“They’ve been waiting that long that their limbs have started to become necrotic (dying tissue), resulting in major surgery to remove said limbs.”

Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham (centre), joins ambulance workers on the picket line outside ambulance headquarters in Coventry
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Sharon Graham (centre) joins ambulance workers on the picket line in Coventry

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Sky’s Jason Farrell looks at the impact of ambulance staff walkouts on patients and those who care for them.

‘Don’t get blind drunk’

A former Royal Marine who is among striking health workers described it as “demoralising” to spend entire shifts waiting outside hospitals with patients stuck in the back of ambulances as he demanded “something needs to change”.

Harry Maskers from Cardiff, who works for the Welsh Ambulance Service, said that while he was unable to strike during his military career, he was taking the opportunity to do so now, with “the kicker” being the government’s refusal to discuss the issue of pay.

Mr Barclay had earlier urged the public to “use their common sense in terms of what activities they do” while ambulance workers are on strike, while the medical director of NHS England Professor Sir Stephen Powis urged people not to get “blind drunk”.

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The walkout by ambulance staff and paramedics comes as nurses in Scotland overwhelmingly rejected the latest pay offer from the Scottish government, in a move which could see members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) take strike action for the first time ever.

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Health Secretary Steve Barclay says people should use

Meanwhile, National Highways workers will go on strike from Thursday until Christmas Day in the latest phase of industrial action by the biggest civil service union.

The strike involves members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) working as on-road traffic officers and regional operating centre operatives, in London and southeast England.

It comes as planned strikes by railway cleaners in a dispute over pay have been called off.

More than 1,000 cleaners, who are members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, would have been involved.

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Brianna Ghey’s mother calls for school smartphone ban

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Brianna Ghey's mother calls for school smartphone ban

The mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey is calling on the government to introduce a ban on mobile phones in schools – a move she says will not only safeguard children, but also improve their behaviour and engagement in class.

In February 2023, Brianna, 16, was stabbed to death by two 15-year-olds after being lured to a park in Warrington.

In the lead-up to the attack, her killers had spent time on the dark web. At the same time, Brianna was also trapped online, struggling with a phone addiction.

Her mother Esther Ghey’s Phone Free Education campaign is driven by her personal experiences as a parent and the impact Brianna’s phone use had on her education.

Brianna Ghey struggled with a mobile phone addiction, according to her mother
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Brianna Ghey struggled with a mobile phone addiction, according to her mother

“All the arguments that me and Brianna had were down to her phone use,” Esther said.

“But even in school, she had issues and I used to have phone calls from the school saying that Brianna wouldn’t put her phone away.”

Brianna, who was transgender, struggled with an eating disorder and also self-harmed.

Her mother says the constant time she spent online exacerbated those issues, while impacting her behaviour at school, where she had 120 safeguarding logs and 116 behaviour incidents recorded by her teachers.

Esther Ghey said she had calls from her daughter's school saying that 'Brianna wouldn't put her phone away'
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Esther Ghey said she had calls from her daughter’s school saying that ‘Brianna wouldn’t put her phone away’

“It was so difficult as a parent, because I felt in one way that I was failing and then in another way, and this is really difficult for me to speak about, I was so annoyed with Brianna,” she recalled.

“I thought, why can’t you just go to school, get your head down and just focus on your education, because this is important.

“Only now, after two years of being immersed in this world, do I realise that actually, it’s so much harder than that.”

Research by the Children’s Commission has shown that 79% of secondary schools are still allowing pupils to bring their mobile phones into school, and even into classrooms.

Brianna's school introduced a ban on mobile phones in September last year
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Brianna’s school introduced a ban on mobile phones in September last year

How phone ban is working at Brianna’s old school

Esther is campaigning for government guidance on phones to become statutory, with funding also set aside for the equipment to help schools implement the ban, arguing the lack of legislation is “setting children up to fail”.

At Birchwood Community High School in Warrington, where Brianna was a pupil, they introduced a ban on phones last September.

At the beginning of the day, pupils turn off their phones and place them in pouches, which are locked. At the end of the school day, the pouches are then unlocked.

Pupils at Birchwood Community High School in Warrington place their phones in pouches, which are then locked
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Pupils at Birchwood Community High School in Warrington place their phones in pouches, which are then locked

The headteacher, Emma Mills, said introducing these measures has come with several benefits.

“It’s had an impact in all areas of school, and it’s actually had a really positive impact in ways that I didn’t foresee,” said Ms Mills.

“Attendance has improved this year. In terms of behaviour, behaviour has improved. We’ve had no permanent exclusions this year in school, which is actually the first time since I’ve been headteacher in six years, there’s been no permanent exclusion.”

This summer, the school also saw its best-ever GCSE results in the core subjects of Science, maths, and English.

Emma Mills, headteacher at Birchwood Community High School in Warrington
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Emma Mills, headteacher at Birchwood Community High School in Warrington

‘They can live without their phones’

For Ms Mills, another significant change has been the atmosphere in the school.

“They’re not as worried, they’re not as distracted,” Ms Mills said.

“They’ve realised that they can live without their phones. Something else we’ve really noticed is that it’s a bit louder in school at breaks and lunch times. It’s because they’re talking more, they’re interacting more, and they’re communicating more.”

The positive impact of a ban at Brianna’s old school has served as encouragement to Esther, who has written an open letter addressed to Sir Keir Starmer and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, asking for government support.

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Brianna Ghey
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Brianna Ghey

High-profile signatories include the actress Kate Winslet, as well as actor and film producer Stephen Graham.

For Esther, who will deliver the letter to 10 Downing Street next month, the campaign is not just Brianna’s legacy, but also creating societal change.

“I think it’s important that we teach young people to live in the real world,” she said.

“It’s going to impact society at one point and I think this small amount of investment in students now will have a massive impact in the future.”

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Revealed: Huge rise in protests being dealt with by police

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Revealed: Huge rise in protests being dealt with by police

Police across the UK dealt with more than 3,000 protests over three months this summer – more than three times as many as just two years ago.

There were 3,081 protests this June, July, and August across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, figures from the National Police Chiefs’ Council have revealed.

Last summer, when riots were raging across the country following the Southport murders, police dealt with 2,942 protests. In 2023, it was 928.

The summer months this year have been dominated by widespread demonstrations, some against the ban on Palestine Action and others against housing asylum seekers in hotels.

Counter-protesters with police as people take part in a Stand Up To Racism rally in Orpington in August. Pic: PA
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Counter-protesters with police as people take part in a Stand Up To Racism rally in Orpington in August. Pic: PA

‘Increasing tension’

Gavin Stephens, chairman of the NPCC, said it was clear that there has been “more community tension and more division”, adding that “we all have a responsibility, policing included, to set the tone”.

“Anybody in a leadership position should think about how we can reduce and defuse tensions and not sow division,” Mr Stephens said.

The senior official said protests this year were a “chronic pressure” for police compared to last year’s disorder, which was acute.

“This is not talking about the volume of protest, and this is not a commentary from policing on people’s right to protest peacefully,” he said.

“We absolutely support that in a democracy, but we do know that there is a climate of increasing tension and polarity in what we’re seeing.”

He is convinced communities will be able to reunite and “reset”, and said claims that the UK is on the verge of civil disobedience are “exaggerated”.

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It comes as policing leaders are pushing for a major restructuring of forces in England and Wales, hoping to bring more powers to a national level.

They also want to overhaul how funding is calculated for each force.

A government white paper on potential changes to the service is expected to be published in the coming months.

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Thames Water rescue plan promises £20.5bn investment

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Thames Water rescue plan promises £20.5bn investment

The group of Thames Water lenders aiming to rescue the company have set out plans for £20.5bn of investment to bolster performance.

The proposals, submitted to the regulator for consideration, include commitments to spending £9.4bn on sewage and water assets over the next five years, up 45% on current levels, to prevent spills and leaks respectively.

Of this, £3.9bn would go towards the worst performing sewage treatment sites following a series of fines against Thames Water, and other major operators, over substandard storm overflow systems.

It said this would be achieved at the 2025-30 bill levels already in place, so no further increases would be needed, but it continued to argue that leniency over poor performance will be needed to effect the turnaround.

The creditors have named their consortium London & Valley Water.

It effectively already owns Thames Water under the terms of a financial restructuring agreed early in the summer but Ofwat is yet to give its verdict on whether the consortium can run the company, averting the prospect of it being placed in a special administration regime.

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Is Thames Water a step closer to nationalisation?

Thames is on the brink of nationalisation because of the scale of its financial troubles, with debts above £17bn.

Without a deal the consortium, which includes investment heavyweights Elliott Management and BlackRock, would be wiped out.

Ofwat, which is to be scrapped under a shake-up of oversight, is looking at the operational plan separately to its proposed capital structure.

The latter is expected to be revealed later this month.

Sky News revealed on Monday that the consortium was to offer an additional £1bn-plus sweetener in a bid to persuade Ofwat and the government to back the rescue.

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Thames Water handed record fine

Mike McTighe, the chairman designate of London & Valley Water, said: “Over the next 10 years the investment we will channel into Thames Water’s network will make it one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country.

“Our core focus will be on improving performance for customers, maintaining the highest standards of drinking water, reducing pollution and overcoming the many other challenges Thames Water faces.

“This turnaround has the opportunity to transform essential services for 16 million customers, clean up our waterways and rebuild public trust.”

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The government has clearly signalled its preference that a market-based solution is secured for Thames Water, though it has lined up a restructuring firm to advise on planning in the event the proposed rescue deal fails.

A major challenge for the consortium is convincing officials that it has the experience and people behind it to meet the demands of running a water company of Thames Water’s size, serving about a quarter of the country’s population.

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