Hundreds of ambulance workers to walk out on Friday as strike action also back on in Wales
West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) has assured residents that "ambulances will still be dispatched" when more than 1,000 paramedics, drivers and other ambulance workers take industrial action later this week.
A strike over pay by both the GMB and Unite unions will see nearly 1,000 paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff from the GMB union take strike action from 6am on Friday, February 17 until 8am Saturday morning.
Hundreds of ambulance workers belonging to the Unite union will also strike from 6am until 6pm on Friday.
Friday's action will see workers picket ambulance hubs across the West Midlands, including at Shrewsbury and Donnington in Shropshire, Stoke Hub, Wolverhampton PTS, Bromsgrove Hub, as well as hubs in Dudley, Hereford and Sandwell,
The industrial action is the latest in a series of strikes by ambulance workers who also took to the picket lines earlier this month when nurses took industrial action over pay.
Ambulance workers have rejected a four per cent pay rise that union bosses have called a "massive real terms pay cut".
Further walkouts by both the GMB and Unite union are being planned on March 6 and March 20.
WMAS has admitted that Friday's strike will see "fewer ambulances on the roads and fewer staff taking 999 calls" and has advised people to "please use 999 wisely and use the symptom checker at NHS 111" if they are unsure which service to use.
However, the ambulance service has assured residents that they will still respond to emergencies.
Emergency Services Operations Delivery Director, Nathan Hudson, said: “We have had productive discussions with our staffside colleagues to agree that ambulances will respond to the most urgent calls such as cardiac arrests and where a crew request immediate back up at the scene of a case."
He added that "other very serious cases such as heart attacks, strokes, difficulty in breathing and maternity cases" would also see an ambulance despatched.
“In addition, staff in our non-emergency patient transport service will continue to convey vulnerable groups such as patients undertaking renal dialysis, cancer treatments, palliative care, emergency scans within the strike period timeframe," he continued. “Ambulances will be dispatched where clinically appropriate.
Meanwhile, teachers and ambulance workers are set to strike again in Wales after union members rejected the latest round of pay offers.
Teachers had been set to strike on Tuesday but action was postponed last week to consult union members. Strikes will will now go ahead on March 2 after the National Education Union (NEU) said the revised pay deal was "simply not good enough".
Unite said its members in the Welsh Ambulance Service had rejected a similar pay offer by 92 per cent on a ballot turnout of 70 per cent.
Ambulance workers at Unite are now set to strike in Wales on February 20, 21 and 22.
