Torchlight vigil to show support for striking nurses and ambulance staff

Around 70 people gathered in Castle Square in support of nurses and paramedics who are in dispute with the government over pay and conditions.

Speakers at the event said the National Heath Service was being dismantled and said people were at the sharp end of things in rural Shropshire.

They included health worker and Ludlow councillor Tracey Huffer and Councillor Julia Evans Secretary of Shropshire's Defend Our NHS, and a former A&E nurse who is now returning to practice.

Darren Childs said: “We thought it was important that we called Ludlow people together to make that gesture of support for our health workers and our NHS. We called the vigil with only two days notice and we were worried no one would come. It was a brilliant turnout – and I think that shows just how much people care about the NHS, and also of course their support for the health workers now forced into industrial action”.

He added, “People are dying every day because of the escalating crisis in the NHS. Category 2 calls are really high priority, and include people with a suspected heart attack or stroke. The national response time target is 18 minutes. On Monday this week, in the West Midlands, the average time was 2 hours and 21 minutes. There was no strike – just an NHS that desperately needs more funding and more staff. I’m not holding my breath, but wouldn’t it be nice if politicians got this sorted out?"

Gill George of Shropshire Defend Our NHS and a retired NHS clinician, said: "All of us at yesterday’s rally understand that there are big fights ahead of us. We know we have a fight for Ludlow Hospital and we also have to get local ambulance provision back in Ludlow and in South-West Shropshire, of course. But increasingly, we have to fight for our NHS as a whole to have a future – and we’ll be having that fight with and for NHS workers.

"None of us blamed the health workers who have faced year after year of real terms pay cuts, the nurses who are now resorting to food banks."

One woman told event organisers about calling an ambulance recently for her baby son when he had serious breathing difficulties and was turning blue. She had waited an hour for the ambulance to arrive.

Campaigners from ‘Shropshire Needs Ambulances’ and ‘Shropshire Defend Our NHS’ will call a planning meeting early in the New Year.