I'm in two minds about the concept of 'Lets not do something that may result in actually needing the help of those out on strike'
To me, striking is generally due to something that leaves said strikers feeling aggrieved about their current role - that is highlighted more so when the job they are striking from needs them.
Clearly it's a delicate and in many respects stupid decision to do something that may result in serous injury - knowing there is a strike in one of the sectors you may well need to call on - but, in principal (and imho of course) the best support Joe Public can give striking people is to call on their services when they are out striking.
Ken Clark in 1989 called paramedics ’glorified taxi drivers’. Classy.
I remember that well, I was in the ambulance service then. He came to our HQ at the time, he was an Ok guy to talk to, but yes that comment went down well. Ir was also a very different profession then.
remember being torn to shreds on here 2002-3 when fire service went on strike.....hey ho
No one is. Just pointing out they can’t replace highly trained and skilled staff with unqualified squaddies.
The bit that winds me up is that all over the news they're talking about these 1200 Troops but no one has compared them to how many ambulance crews they'd actually be covering for.
Note - 1200 troops over a 24 hour shift is at most 300 crews at any one time, and there are 450 'emergency' ambulances just in London.
Think I’ll listen to what Tim used tells me and give up running with scissors for the foreseeable.
Ftfy
The bit that winds me up is that all over the news they’re talking about these 1200 Troops but no one has compared them to how many ambulance crews they’d actually be covering for.
Note – 1200 troops over a 24 hour shift is at most 300 crews at any one time, and there are 450 ’emergency’ ambulances just in London.
Exactly.
There are only 1200 troops because they have to pay £4k per day each for them.
If they had sorted the pay out earlier, they could have saved that, and much of what they pay for agency nurses.
When they say 'troops', my mate is one of them and he's not a squaddie. He's a fully trained medic
He is very far from happy about the situation, but he's most definitely on the side of the Ambulance staff
So how about: "No car, no gnar, no getting absolutely shitfaced"?
Is that catchy enough?
Haha do you think the rich swine would be using the NHS? Private all the way for that arse.
Don’t think there’s a private a@e thou unless you’re really rich and have your own crash team , anaesthetist and private operating theatre wiv staff.
Ready to transplant your brain into your replacement cyborg body.
I wouldn’t want to be walking anywhere near Spurs’ training ground.
The bit that winds me up is that all over the news they’re talking about these 1200 Troops but no one has compared them to how many ambulance crews they’d actually be covering for.
Note – 1200 troops over a 24 hour shift is at most 300 crews at any one time, and there are 450 ’emergency’ ambulances just in London.
TBH there’s a certain type of voter that gets a Hardon when the troops get mentioned.
But yep it’s a total farce,we unfortunately really need a big name to have a terrible accident and be stuck in the back of an ambulance or not responded too to hammer home the damage that has been inflicted on the NHS/ambulance service over the years.
When they say ‘troops’, my mate is one of them and he’s not a squaddie. He’s a fully trained medic
No doubt he’s not the only one but their skill set isn’t the same as Paramedics.
I'll be avoiding swans, if at all possible
I'm not saying for a minute that they are Drac. I don't think they're comparable at all
I was more making the point that he's not happy about being drafted in to cover for what is essentially a government completely abdicating its duty and responsibility, leaving ambulance staff (and nurses) with little choice. Theres no question who he blames for this mess
So how about: “No car, no gnar, no getting absolutely shitfaced”?
No car, No gnar, no lagaaar....
I was more making the point that he’s not happy about being drafted in to cover for what is essentially a government completely abdicating its duty and responsibility, leaving ambulance staff (and nurses) with little choice. Theres no question who he blames for this mess
Yeah they have little say in it.
remember being torn to shreds on here 2002-3 when fire service went on strike…..hey ho
Well the obvious difference is that in 2002-3 Labour were in government.
The belief that people should accept from a Labour government what they would never accept from a Tory government is surprisingly widespread.
Don’t think there’s a private a@e thou
Yet....
Anyone want to crowd fund / kick start this?
Full private A&E with post care ICU & wards, start off in London and then follow up in the other leading UK cities, accept NHS ambulance patients as well as your own private ambulance fleet, cater for the 1% of the population and if trade is poor accept NHS work.
... it's only a matter of time. This is the path we're blindly being led down.
Well the obvious difference is that in 2002-3 Labour were in government.
The belief that people should accept from a Labour government what they would never accept from a Tory government is surprisingly widespread.
From what I recall it was more the case that people were waning that the FBU leader was a delusional leader, that the public would soon turn against them when the world carried on. Public support will fall quickly for us too once the price start with the vial hatred towards anyone making a stance. I’m staggered by the amount we are currently getting, but I suppose in part you’re right. The country as a whole seems to have had enough of the Tory party.
Eating just one more wafer-thin mint.
Bon appetit.
Their usual press lapdogs are still determined to parrot the government line and turn this into a miners strike 'enemy within' scenario
https://twitter.com/Otto_English/status/1605470549559459841?s=20&t=6qrPICmfHt_ZPNetFNyU6g
I really like that Sun headline - it provides its readers with a very timely reminder of just how reassuringly important emergency provisions are to their everyday lives.
There are only 1200 troops because they have to pay £4k per day each for them.
Wooden Dollars, but moving £4.8m for each day from the NHS budget to the MOD budget seems an odd move - or is it moving somewhere else...
Don’t get drunk: UK govt urges caution amid ambulance strike
https://apnews.com/article/british-politics-health-business-strikes-6535ebe5544e1bbe4d0a2240a8756f13
I don't get this 'don't get drunk because there is an ambulance strike' advice.
Get drunk tomorrow or the day after because there will be an ambulance to take you to A&E if you need one?
Get drunk tomorrow or the day after because there will be an ambulance to take you to A&E if you need one?
The solution to this is obvious, get drunk in A&E.
The don’t drink nonsense is just propaganda. The advice should be don’t have a stroke. Don’t have a cardiac arrest. And not limited to strike days. Or the government can negotiate on pay and conditions in the short term, and publish and fund a plan to sort staff shortages in the medium and longer term.
I won't be reading the right wing press. My blood pressure is already high enough.
I’d keep away from Kevin McKenzie’s tweet then DrJ.
@Drac - further to my earlier comment on this thread, are A&E and/or ambulance services ever cross-border?
Everything we can.
We have a friend who's and Ambulance driver / paramedic. We've watched her pull 14hr continuous shifts eating sandwiches at the wheel, and receiving continues abuse because the crew is "late" for about 4 years now, its beyond disgrace how they are treated/expected to work.
We even picked up a de-fib machine she left at a house in our street for her and met her on a shout because she had less time to divert and retrieve it than she needed to respond to all the calls. In her words - she can manually provide cardiac treatment if the patient is still alive because she hasn't diverted on the route, therefore the decision was to leave the machine. Jesus.
Yeah. They help each other out where the demand or location is better suited for another to respond. Hospital wise if there’s little difference between the journey time then a patient may go over the border for treatment, if they live there or have on going treatment.
Keeping up with events in the UK from the safe vantage point of southern Europe, it's difficult to fathom just how bad it's got/getting.
No car, No gnar, no lagaaar….
No car, No gnar, no visits to the bar.
I'm interested to see how effective the government line plus RW press propaganda actually is this time.
Do we really think they can make the narrative stick this time?
@Drac - thanks. I'll update my risk avoidance strategy to avoid Borders region too! 😉
I’m interested to see how effective the government line plus RW press propaganda actually is this time.
Do we really think they can make the narrative stick this time?
I'm not sure the Gov't actually has a strategy, beyond the anti-union posturing.
They are on a very sticky wicket IMO.
No strike in Scotland so I’m going to throw myself down the stairs
Same. Might even dress up as Princess Di for it.
I'll probably avoid doing this as well, just for these few days...
https://www.unilad.com/news/ww1-bomb-rectum-hospital-evacuation-france-611421-20221221
"Do we really think they can make the narrative stick this time"
I think not. Its much easier to 'other' groups like teachers and even miners but almost everyone in the country knows someone who works on the frontline of the NHS, mainly as most of it IS frontline and it employs 1.3 million people. There is no class barrier either - nurses and paramedics come from all walks of life.
Surely, even the most self serving daily mail reading Tory faithful know that when the chips are down its these people they rely on.
I'll be giving up wearing trousers;
In 1999 in Britain there were 5,945 trouser-related injuries requiring hospitalization.
I’m not sure the Gov’t actually has a strategy, beyond the anti-union posturing.
The government strategy is the same as it always is, to make ordinary working people pay the price for an economic crisis by suppressing wages.
Ambulance crews have been offered a 4% pay rise because the policy is to cut
wages in real terms.
It isn't specifically aimed at paramedics, or nurses, or anyone else in particular, it is a general policy to help the government deal with a crisis which is mostly their own responsibility.
The alternative would be to shift the burden onto the huge profits of the likes of the energy producers and the banks.
Politics is about priorities, and the Tories would no longer be Tories if they changed their priorities.
That last post of Ernie’s needs printing out and putting through every letterbox in the country.
Surrey Hills on the 28th, then if we need to drive ourselves to A&E, so be it 😀
In 1999 in Britain there were 5,945 trouser-related injuries requiring hospitalization.
Zip flies?
