Ambulance workers are willing to strike into the summer if ministers continue to drag out the NHS industrial dispute, unions have warned.
Some 15,000 emergency service workers walk out this Friday ahead of new union ballots that could see more staff gain a mandate to strike for another six months.
Unison, whose paramedics are on strike tomorrow, say ministers are “happy to let the public suffer” as they “wait for public opinion to turn”.
Helen Gorton, Unison’s head of health, said: “Why is Rishi Sunak still pretending to the public and not being honest that the plan is just to sit tight and wait for public opinion to turn?
“The Government strategy seems to be just to sit this out until the end of the NHS Pay Review Body process.
“So that means that in terms of the impact they are condemning the public to potentially another three or four months of this.
“Until there is an improved pay offer that we can put to members then we don’t end this dispute.
“This week we’ve only had one day where there’s been no [NHS] union on strike.
“I think that could become all too common if there isn’t a step up of Government intent to resolve the dispute.”
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There have been repeated meetings with unions and Health Secretary Steve Barclay at which he has refused to discuss the 2022/23 pay settlement dispute.
The Government is pushing unions to forget about this year’s pay and focus on the deal for 2023/24 financial year – for which the contested NHS Pay Review Body is yet to deliver a recommendation.
Unions have lost faith in the independence of the body and the process is notoriously slow, with Government providing its evidence for a restrained pay deal many months late.
Hospital bosses have already insisted ministers must settle the 2022/23 dispute before moving on to the next round of pay negotiations.
Ms Gorton said: “It feels like the Government on the one hand is talking up the danger of the strikes and on the other hand, doing absolutely nothing to step in and protect the public from them.
“They’re happy to let the public suffer.”
Ambulance staff working for five services in England – London, Yorkshire, the North West, North East and South West – will strike on Friday.
Paramedics will leave picket lines to answer the most life-threatening 999 emergencies. Their current strike mandate runs until May.
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The other five ambulance services in England and one covering Wales are currently being balloted to strike after narrowly missing the turnout threshold in an earlier ballot.
If, as union leaders now expect, more than 50% vote and indicate they are willing to strike they will have a mandate to do so for a further six months.
New ballots by both major ambulance worker unions Unison and GMB could extend those with a mandate to strike from around 20,000 to 33,000 staff.
They represent paramedics, emergency care assistants, ambulance technicians, other 999 crew members, call handlers and control room staff.
The Tories are sticking to their 4% pay award for England despite inflation running at over 10%.
The devolved government in Wales has issued a new pay offer of 7.5%.
New NHS data shows the number of 999 calls answered per day in January by ambulance services in England was the lowest since March 2021.
Services answered 679,517 calls last month, or 21,920 per day, both down a third (33%) on December 2022, NHS England said.
The average call answer time in January was the lowest since May 2021.
The number of incidents per day fell month on month by 4%, to 21,106.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it was “regrettable” some union members were taking further industrial action, at a time when the NHS was already under pressure.
“The Health and Social Care Secretary has had constructive meetings with unions and has been clear he wants to continue to discuss what is fair and affordable as part of the 2023/24 pay process.”