Number of 999 calls appears to drop as thousands of ambulance workers and paramedics strike until midnight
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”.
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 strike action in London
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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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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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.”
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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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.
UK
Tulip Siddiq: Labour MP accuses Bangladesh’s leader of ‘orchestrated campaign’ to damage her reputation
Former minister Tulip Siddiq has accused the leader of Bangladesh of conducting an “orchestrated campaign” to damage her reputation and “interfere with UK politics”, according to a new legal letter seen by Sky News.
The Labour MP also said comments made by Professor Muhammad Yunus in a Sky News interview have prejudiced her right to a fair investigation, meaning the ongoing corruption inquiries into her should be dropped.
In March, the chief adviser – who is effectively the country’s interim leader – told Sky News that Ms Siddiq “has so many (sic) wealth left behind here” and “should be made responsible”.
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Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has opened several investigations into Ms Siddiq alleging corruption in connection with the government of her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted as the country’s prime minister last year.
In the new correspondence sent today to Professor Yunus and the ACC, lawyers for the former minister write: “The time has now come for the chief adviser and the ACC to abandon their wholly misconceived and unlawful campaign to smear Ms Siddiq’s reputation and interfere with her public service.”
Sky News has approached the chief adviser and the ACC for comment.
The Bangladeshi authorities have previously said they have evidence to back up their claims of corruption and will pursue action through the country’s courts.
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The Tulip Siddiq accusations explained
Speaking to Sky News on Monday, Ms Siddiq said: “I will not be allowing them to drag me into their world of dirty politics and nothing is going to stop me from pursuing the job that I was elected to do with an overwhelming majority, which is representing the people of Hampstead and Highgate.
“So they need to stop this political vendetta, this smear campaign, and this malicious persecution right from the beginning.”
The MP had requested a meeting with the Bangladeshi leader during an official visit to the UK earlier this month to “clear up” any misunderstandings.
But this was turned down by the chief adviser, who said he did not want to “interrupt a legal procedure”.
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In the new legal letter, lawyers for Ms Siddiq say the interim leader had already unfairly influenced the inquiries through previous comments.
“The copious briefings to the media, the failure to respond to our letters, the failure to even ask to meet with and question Ms Siddiq during their recent visit to the United Kingdom are impossible to justify and completely inconsistent with a fair, lawful and serious investigation,” reads the letter.
The correspondence also sets a deadline of 30 June 2025 for the Bangladeshi authorities to reply by, stating that “in the absence of a full and proper response… Ms Siddiq will consider this matter closed”.
A former Nobel Prize winning economist, Professor Muhammad Yunus became interim leader of Bangladesh last August after weeks of deadly protests forced Sheikh Hasina from power.
He has pledged to root out corruption and recover alleged stolen wealth before holding votes to elect a permanent administration.
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Tulip Siddiq questioned over Bangladesh corruption
Last month, Professor Yunus banned the Awami League – the political party still led by Sheikh Hasina – from standing in the coming elections.
That led to criticism from those still loyal to the former prime minister, with protests also sparking in the country over jobs, pay and planned reforms.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Tulip Siddiq had lived in several London properties that had links back to the Awami League.
She referred herself to the prime minister’s standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus who said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties” but added it was “regrettable” Ms Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt.
Ms Siddiq said continuing in her role would be “a distraction” for the government but insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Sheikh Hasina is currently standing trial in absentia in Dhaka over alleged killings during last summer’s civil unrest.
Asked by Sky News if she had any regrets about links to the Awami league, Ms Siddiq said: “The main thing I would say to you, I’m very proud to be the MP for Hampstead and Highgate. I was born in London, I grew up in London. I went to school here and now I’m an MP here.”
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Sheikh Hasina pictured in 2023. Pic: AP/Yomiuri Shimbun
In March, Sky News revealed that UK investigators could assist with probes into alleged grand corruption during Hasina’s time in power.
Staff from the National Crime Agency visited Bangladesh in October and November as part of initial work to support the interim government in the country.
Last month, the NCA confirmed it had secured a “freezing order” against a property in north London linked to Ms Siddiq’s family.
She denies all the allegations – and sources close to the MP say the authorities have been sending correspondence to an address in Dhaka that has no connection with her.
A “rapid” national investigation into NHS maternity services has been launched by the government.
The announcement comes after Health Secretary Wes Streeting met families who have lost babies and amid the ongoing investigations at some NHS trusts into maternity care failings.
The investigation in England is intended to provide truth to families suffering harm, as well as driving urgent improvements to care and safety, as part of efforts to ensure “no parent or baby is ever let down again”.
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The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) welcomed the government’s announcement and said maternity services were “at, or even beyond, breaking point”.
Last week, the NHS regulator said maternity and neonatal services at two Leeds hospitals had been rated inadequate over safety issues.
Mr Streeting, who was speaking at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) conference in London, apologised on behalf of the NHS for what families had been through and said it was “clear something is going wrong”.
He added: “For the past year, I have been meeting bereaved families from across the country who have lost babies or suffered serious harm during what should have been the most joyful time in their lives.
“What they have experienced is devastating – deeply painful stories of trauma, loss, and a lack of basic compassion – caused by failures in NHS maternity care that should never have happened.
“Their bravery in speaking out has made it clear: we must act – and we must act now.”
Mr Streeting said families have had to “fight for truth and justice” and had described being “ignored, gaslit, lied to, manipulated and damaged further by the inability for a trust to simply be honest with them that something has gone wrong”.
The investigation will consist of two parts.
Wes Streeting speaking during the RCOG conference. Pic: PA
The first will investigate up to 10 of the most concerning maternity and neonatal units, including Sussex, in the coming weeks to give affected families answers as quickly as possible, according to the Department of Health.
The second will be a “system-wide” look at maternity and neonatal care, uniting lessons from past inquiries to create one clear set of actions designed to improve NHS care.
A National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will be chaired by Mr Streeting and made up of experts and bereaved families.
The investigation will begin this summer and report back by December.
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Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said: “This rapid national investigation must mark a line in the sand for maternity care – setting out one set of clear actions for NHS leaders to ensure high quality care for all.”
Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the RCOG, said: “The maternity workforce is on its knees, with many now leaving the profession.”
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RCM chief executive Gill Walton said: “Everyone involved in maternity services – the midwifery community, obstetricians, anaesthetists, sonographers and, of course, the women and families in their care – knows that maternity services are at, or even beyond, breaking point.
“This renewed focus and commitment by the health secretary to deliver change is welcome, and we will do everything we can to support him in doing so.”
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