Pembroke Dock paramedics join 24-hour industrial action

Today, thousands of ambulance personnel throughout the UK staged their second 24-hour walkout in protest of pay and working conditions.

These included paramedics Marcus Viggers and Adrian Swales (pictured) who are based at the Pembroke Dock ambulance station.

This afternoon the Western Telegraph joined them on the picket line to find out more about their reasons for industrial strike action.

Pembroke Dock ambulance service on picket line (Image: Western Telegraph)

“This isn’t about money in our own pockets; it’s about the fact that the system has been underfunded by the government for the past decade," said Marcus Viggers.

“When I first joined the service 20 years ago, we would carry out between seven or eight calls a day. We’d collect the patient, take them to hospital and within half an hour we’d be ready to respond to the next call. But now we’re lucky if we can respond to two calls a day.”

This is largely because the large majority of hospital beds are currently occupied by people who have completed their hospital treatment and are medically fit.  But they cannot be discharged as a result of the poorly funded social care system that will look after them in their own homes.

“And this is what has been under-funded for so long,” continued Adrian Swales.

“And the last two years are the worst it’s ever been.

"There are often up to nine ambulances waiting outside Withybush and we could be there for up to eight hours.

“And more often than not, the Pembrokeshire ambulance service is covering Carmarthenshire, so if there’s a red call in Neyland, there are no ambulances available to attend because they’re all stuck in a queue outside Glagwili.

“I used to lose sleep about it, but until the government begins accepting the problem and providing adequate funding, nothing is going to change.”

Pembrokeshire is currently served by five ambulance stations - Pembroke Dock, Tenby, Fishguard, Haverfordwest and Milford Haven - and the teams work 12 hour shifts.

During the shift they get a half hour unpaid break and a 20-minute paid break.

“But the 20-minute break never happens and the 12-hour shift is regularly over-run. As a result, staff are dropping like flies.”

Meanwhile GM Union representative Peter Hill doesn’t hold out much hope for an immediate resolution.

“No real progress is being made at the moment despite industrial action on December 11 and today,” he said.

“As a result, the strikes will continue, unless there’s political intervention to get it resolved.”