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Ambulance workers stage another day of strike action as dispute over pay for overstretched staff shows no sign of ending

THOUSANDS of ambulance workers staged more strike action today as the bitter dispute over pay for overstretched NHS staff showed no sign of abating.

Nearly 2,000 paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff across north-west England downed tools for 12 hours from midday, their union GMB said.

The walkout, which followed industrial action by thousands of GMB, Unite and Unison ambulance employees on Monday, came ahead of what could be biggest-ever NHS strike on February 6, when all three unions are due to strike alongside nurses.

Paramedic and GMB rep Paul Turner said that the workforce is “angry” after the Tory government accused health service workers of endangering patient safety.

“Instead of talking about pay for this year to resolve this dispute, ministers are demonising us and belittling our efforts to save lives,” he said.

“The NHS is collapsing, yet we have been waiting two weeks for another meeting with ministers. 

“The only way to solve this dispute is a proper pay offer — we are waiting.”

Labour urged Downing Street to clarify today that it remains committed to free-at-the-point-of-use healthcare after ex-health secretary Sajid Javid said patients should be charged for GP appointments and A&E visits.

In an op-ed piece for right-wing newspaper The Times, the Bromsgrove MP ignored more than a decade of Tory austerity and urged an extension of the “contributory principle” — beyond prescription and dental charges — to tackle growing NHS waiting times.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who suggested during last summer’s Tory leadership contest that patients should pay for missing GP appointments, said he is not “currently” considering the troubling move.

Socialist Labour MP Richard Burgon condemned Mr Javid’s proposal during a fiery debate in the Commons today.

In response, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said that ministers “remain committed to treatment free at the point of use — that is the Prime Minster’s position.”

But his Labour opposite number, Wes Streeting, who has attracted criticism for urging more private-sector involvement in the NHS, noted that the claim “didn’t rule out any future extension of user charging.”

Many health unions have repeatedly accused the government of deliberately running down health services as a precursor to privatisation.

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