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Two days of strikes by nurses and paramedics will have a knock-on effect on appointments with a return to “very high numbers” of emergency calls in the coming days, NHS Providers has warned.

Historic strike action saw thousands of nurses picket on Tuesday and ambulance staff stage their biggest strike in 30 years yesterday.

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, told Sky News that coming days would be a “challenging time”.

Ambulance workers on the picket line outside Soundwell Ambulance Station, Bristol

The NHS is ‘haemorrhaging staff’

Talking about structural issues impacting the NHS , she said: “Staff on the front line are significantly overstretched and we need to see a real growth in the number of staff across the whole of the NHS. What we’ve got to see now is the government come to the table and have a serious discussion and negotiation about pay because this dispute is about pay and it’s also about working conditions and keeping patients safe…

Highlighting the record high of NHS vacancies, with around 130,000 posts unfilled, she said: “We know that we are haemorrhaging staff because of pay and working conditions, particularly in more junior bands of NHS staff. So, we really have to do something about that.

“And it’s not just about the NHS. The government knows we need to do something about social care as well because social care is really on its knees and it needs a boost. And if if social care has boost and the NHS frontline staff have the terms and conditions they need, then we will see an effective NHS.”

The number of people calling 999 appeared to drop in some parts of England yesterday and the membership organisation for NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services said there had been “varying levels of disruption” across the country.

It said some demand had shifted to other services or not materialised as expected.

But the organisation said demand for care across the whole healthcare system remained high and trust leaders were reporting ongoing delays to ambulance services and overcrowding at some accident and emergency departments.

Nurses, ambulance staff, railway and postal workers have now returned to work, however, there are more strikes taking place today – with highway workers and driving test examiners among those downing tools.

The military steps in

NHS England said at least 11,509 staff were absent from work across England during strikes by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on Tuesday and 13,797 appointments and procedures had to be rescheduled.

Members of the military stepped in to take the place of ambulance workers yesterday, with trusts telling patients to only call 999 in the case of a life-threatening injury.

The next ambulance strike is due to take place on 28 December.

Read more:
Strikes every day before Christmas – which sectors are affected and why

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Armed forces cover for ambulance staff

Government could fast-track NHS pay rise

Meanwhile, reports said the government could fast-track an NHS pay rise next year.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Health Secretary Steve Barclay is poised to offer an expedited pay deal after unions and ministers remained mired in a stalemate over pay conditions.

The paper said a source close to Mr Barclay, who has been criticised by unions for suggesting striking health workers had “made a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients”, revealed he is keen to “speed up the process” of giving NHS staff a pay rise early next year.

Unions have said they expect NHS workers to be offered a 2% increase next year based on a letter Mr Barclay sent last month to the NHS Pay Review Body.

Ambulance workers on the picket line outside Waterloo ambulance station in London

Wales strike action ‘upsetting to all’

Doctors in Wales are considering taking strike action for the first time, the British Medical Association Cymru has said.

Almost two-thirds of hospital doctors surveyed by the union said they would be willing to take some form of industrial action over pay and conditions.

Iona Collins, the BMA’s Welsh Council chairwoman, called the survey “upsetting to all” and said it is “gut-wrenching for doctors to consider walking away from work”.

She added: “Without action now, patients will continue to suffer as a direct consequence of an under-funded NHS with insufficient direct clinical care.”

In October, the BMA announced that a ballot for industrial action by junior doctors in England will open on 9 January.

Just under 1,000 doctors in Wales responded to the survey seeking views on a 4.5% pay award from the Welsh government – with 78% of those who answered saying they want a pay rise matching or exceeding inflation.

Dr Collins said: “Doctors have been quietly quitting the NHS for years, by reducing their contracted hours or leaving altogether. The financial incentive to remain in the NHS has eroded over the last decade.”

Who’s striking today?

National Highways workers will begin a walkout in London and the south east of England, which will last until Christmas Day.

This will affect officers who work in the aftermath of accidents as well as call centre staff. National Highways have said no roads will be closed as a result of the strike.

Workers for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) in the north west of England, Yorkshire and Humber and North Wales will stop work.

Driving test examiners will also be striking, affecting driving test centres in north west England and Yorkshire and the Humber. Theory tests will not be affected.

Rural Payments Agency (RPA) staff will continue their walkout and Unison workers at the Environment Agency will refuse to provide on-call cover for unexpected incidents.

Unite members working for Highlands and Islands Airports will also be striking.

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Mum diagnosed with cancer tells of the day her life changed ahead of assisted dying vote

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Mum diagnosed with cancer tells of the day her life changed ahead of assisted dying vote

There is a lot at stake this week for Sophie Blake, a 52-year-old mother to a young adult, who was diagnosed with stage four cancer in May 2023.

As MPs vote on whether to change the law to allow assisted dying, Sophie tells Sky News of the day her life changed.

“One night I woke up and as I turned I felt a sensation of something in my breast actually move, and it was deep,” she says, speaking from her home in Brighton.

“Something fluidy, a very odd sensation. I woke up and made a doctor’s appointment.”

Sophie underwent an ultrasound followed by a biopsy before she was taken to a room in the clinic and offered water.

“They said, ‘a hundred percent, we believe you have breast cancer’.”

But it was the phone call with her mother that made it feel real.

More on Assisted Dying

“My mum had been waiting at home. She phoned me and said ‘How is it darling?’ and I said ‘I’ve got breast cancer,’ and it was just that moment of having to say it out loud for the first time and that’s when that part of my life suddenly changed.”

Sophie says terminal cancers can leave patients dreading the thought of suffering at the end of their lives.

“What I don’t want to be is in pain,” she says. “If I am facing an earlier death than I wanted then I want to be able to take control at the end.”

Assisted dying, she believes, gives her control: “It’s an insurance policy to have that there.”

Read more:
Why is assisted dying so controversial and where is it legal?
UK on ‘slippery slope’ Justice Minister says ahead of vote

On Friday, the government is set to debate the issue before voting on it. Sophie hopes they’ll back the proposal.

“It should be my choice to be able to have a compassionate death,” she says.

There has been much debate about the bill since details about how it would work were published earlier this month.

On Friday, former prime minister Gordon Brown became the latest senior political figure to share his opinion on the matter, coming out as against the legalisation of assisted dying, based on his experience of his own daughter’s death.

Disability rights advocate Lucy Webster warns that for people like Sophie to have that choice, others could face pressure to die.

Lucy Webster, disability rights advocate
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Lucy Webster

“All around the world, if you look at places where the bill has been introduced, they’ve been broadened and broadened and broadened,” she tells Sky News.

Lucy is referring to countries like Canada and Netherlands, where eligibility for assisted deaths have widened since laws allowing it were first passed.

Lucy, who is a wheelchair user and requires a lot of care, says society still sees disabled people as burdens which places them at particular risk.

“I don’t know a single disabled person who has not at some point had a stranger come up to us and say, ‘if I were you, I’d kill myself’,” she says.

The assisted dying bill, she says, reinforces the view that disabled lives aren’t worth living.

“I’ve definitely had doctors and healthcare professionals assume that my quality of life is inherently worse than other people’s. That’s a horrible assumption to be faced with when [for example] you’ve just gone to get antibiotics for a chest infection. There are some really deep-seated medical views on disability that are wrong.”

Under the plans, a person would need to be terminally ill and in the final six months of their life, and would have to take the fatal drugs themselves.

Among the safeguards are that two independent doctors must confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and that a High Court judge must give their approval. But the bill does not make clear if that is a rubber-stamping exercise or if judges will have to investigate cases including risks of coercion.

Julian Hughes, honorary professor at Bristol Medical School, says there’s a very big question about whether courts have the room to take on such a task.

Julian Hughes, honorary professor at Bristol Medical School
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Julian Hughes

“At the moment in the family division I understand there are 19 judges and they supply 19,000 hours of court hearing in a year, but you’d have to have an extra 34,000,” he explains.

“We shouldn’t fool ourselves and think that there wouldn’t be some families who would be interested in getting the inheritance rather than spending the inheritance on care for their elderly family members. We could quickly become a society in which suicide becomes normalised.”

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Young people to lose benefits if they refuse work and training, says minister

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Young people to lose benefits if they refuse work and training, says minister

Young people will lose their benefits if they refuse to take up work and training opportunities, a minister has said ahead of announcing measures to cut the welfare bill.

Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that “conditions” will be attached to new skills opportunities the government intends to create.

Politics live: MP proposing assisted dying bill responds to claims it’s a ‘slippery slope’

With a record number of young people currently unemployed, Labour promised in its manifesto a “youth guarantee” for 18-21 year olds to have access to training, an apprenticeship, or support to find work.

“If people repeatedly refuse to take up the training work responsibilities, there will be sanctions on their benefits,” Ms Kendall said.

“The reason why we believe this so strongly is that we believe in our responsibility to provide those new opportunities which is what we will do. We will transform those opportunities, but young people will be required to take them up.”

The Labour government has said it will stick to a commitment under the former Tory administration to reduce the welfare bill by £3bn over five years.

More on Benefits

The Public Accounts Committee's report says the DWP has relatively few programmes that directly target people from ethnic minority backgrounds

Ms Kendall said her party will bring in its “own reforms” to achieve that target, though did not elaborate further.

The Conservatives had planned to change work capability rules to tighten eligibility, so around 400,000 more people signed off sick long-term would be assessed as needing to prepare for work by 2028/29 to deliver the savings.

Asked whether these people would ultimately be denied their current benefits under Labour’s plans, Ms Kendall told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I’m saying we will bring forward our own reforms. You wouldn’t expect me to announce this on your programme.

“But my objective is that disabled people should have the same chances and rights to work as everybody else.”

The latest official forecasts published by the government show the number of people claiming incapacity benefits is expected to climb from around 2.5 million in 2019 to 4.2 million in 2029.

Last year there were just over three million claimants.

Ms Kendall will launch proposals on Tuesday designed to “get Britain working” amid concerns about the soaring unemployment rate.

Read More:
The 800,000 people who have fallen into ‘economic inactivity
Surprise fall in retail sales a sign economy is slowing

Thousands of jobs to go at Bosch

The white paper is expected to include the placement of work coaches in mental health clinics and a “youth guarantee” aimed at ensuring those aged 18-21 are working or studying.

Ministers are also looking at a subsidised jobs scheme, Sky News revealed last week.

The UK remains the only G7 country that has higher levels of economic inactivity now than before the pandemic.

Ms Kendall said the reasons are “complex” and include the fact that the UK is an older and sicker nation.

Asked whether she believes “normal feelings” are being “over-medicalised”, she said that while some people may be “self-diagnosing” themselves with mental health issues it is a “genuine problem”.

“There’s not one simple thing. You know, the last government said people were too bluesy to work.

“I mean, I don’t know who they were speaking to. There is a genuine problem with mental health in this country.”

Ms Kendall’s language was softer than Sir Keir Starmer, who this weekend promised a crackdown on “criminals” who “game the system” .

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said: “Make no mistake, we will get to grips with the bulging benefits bill blighting our society.”

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Man fighting for his life after stabbing on Westminster Bridge

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Man fighting for his life after stabbing on Westminster Bridge

A man is fighting for his life after a stabbing on Westminster Bridge, police have said.

Officers were called to the scene at around 10.45am on Sunday to reports of a fight and found a man with a stab injury. He was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Westminster Bridge is closed with investigations ongoing.
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Westminster Bridge is closed with investigations ongoing.

Three people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and another has been arrested on suspicion of affray.

Two of those arrested were taken to hospital with minor facial injuries, the Met Police said.

It is understood the incident is not being treated as terror-related.

The road remains closed, with the police investigation ongoing.

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