Steve Barclay said in the Daily Telegraph that unions had made a ‘conscious choice to inflict harm’ on patients.
21 December 2022
Unions have reacted with fury to comments by the Health Secretary about the strike by thousands of ambulance workers in a bitter dispute over pay and staffing.
Steve Barclay said in the Daily Telegraph that unions had made a “conscious choice to inflict harm” on patients.
Rachel Harrison of the GMB union said: “Ambulance workers are seething at such a crude, insulting attempt to divert attention from the Government’s continued chaos in the NHS.
“The public know it’s not ambulance workers who have presided over a decade of failure.
“Already today paramedics and ambulance workers have left picket lines to attend to emergency calls. They’ll always put the public first.
“It’s time for the Government to follow their example.”
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “People are already dying or getting sicker every day because the Government’s let the NHS get into such a dire state.
“Ministers have sat back while ambulance response times worsened and waiting lists reached record highs. Ambulance services and the wider NHS no longer have the staff to provide safe patient care. And all this on the Government’s watch.
“There’s a complete absence of a ministerial plan to tackle the worst staffing crisis in the history of the NHS. Steve Barclay’s stubborn refusal to boost pay is more damaging than he realises.
“The public wants ministers to treat NHS staff better and pay them more, as do many politicians on the Government’s side. Trying to paint ambulance workers and their unions as the bad guys in this dispute won’t wash.
“People know it’s ministers who are recklessly putting lives at risk by refusing to negotiate. Unless the government commits to a proper wage rise this year, action will likely escalate in the new year.
“The health secretary must stop the insults and groundless accusations and take responsibility for solving this damaging dispute.”
