to our wales correspondent tomos morgan, who is in newport. give us a sense of the likely impact of the industrial action there in wales, and also what the striking workers are saying about emergency cover. it’s workers are saying about emergency cover. , . , workers are saying about emergency cover. , . , , ., workers are saying about emergency cover. , . i, ., ., ., cover. it s really similar to what we had just cover. it s really similar to what we had just before cover. it s really similar to what we had just before christmas, l cover. it s really similar to what l we had just before christmas, the same union, the gmb union members who are on strike today. they make up who are on strike today. they make up around a quarter of the workforce in wales. we already had a couple of ambulances here in newport already go out. some people had to leave the picket line to staff those calls. it s those red calls that they are going out to, the most serious threat to life calls. so th
lines in newport and gateshead. tomos began by giving us a sense of the likely impact of industrial action in wales. it s really similar to what we had just before christmas, the same union, the gmb union members who are on strike today. they make up around a quarter of the workforce in wales. we already had a couple of ambulances here in newport already go out. some people had to leave the picket line to staff those calls. it s those red calls that they are going out to, the most serious threat to life calls. so there is an impact. the welsh government, ambulance service and nhs saying that the public should protect themselves by only calling 999 if it is a life threatening emergency. one of the things that s different in wales is that health is devolved and the money comes from the welsh government but the majority of their funding for the nhs does come from westminster. on monday, first minister mark drakeford said he was going to put a deal on the table to try to avert further stri
strokes or gynaecological emergencies, road collisions where someone is trapped or young children who are unwell. now, in the north east of england, another example, the responsibility depends on union that staff belong to so gmb members will respond to life threatening calls and unison will respond to some category to calls and if we look at the welsh ambulance service they categorise calls differently and say that union members will be responding to all immediately life threatening red calls. that is how they categorise their own calls. and are selected and one calls for particular complaints which are described as, for example, chest pains or gynaecology emergencies. they also say that they will be responding to road traffic accidents. so, as you can see it varies on where people live, and it is not a uniform picture by any means.
what is the scene there? things are a little bit quieter here what is the scene there? things are a little bit quieter here than - what is the scene there? things are a little bit quieter here than they i a little bit quieter here than they were yesterday for the nurses strike here in cardiff. nurses . this is the cardiff hq in the north east of cardiff. there are a number of reasons why it is quieter here. firstly, it is only the gmb union striking today, and it is about one quarter of their workforce for the ambulance work service. secondly, of course, the deal is that people will be going back to work if there are a number of red calls. the most urgent calls. that has happened here today. as you can see him behind me, there are only around three ambulances now in the bay. at one point there were 11. they have been caught out today as well, the third reason of course is, well, being accident and emergency, which is what these people deal with, they are getting called out more fo
in wales it is just gmb union members who are striking today, who make up about a quarter of the staff who work for the welsh ambulance service here. the issues are very similar across the board as we have been hearing, earlier in that piece. and yesterday with the nurses strike, it was to do with pay, workload and people actually on the ground able to do theirjob. in the last set of figures in wales which came in october, usually the red calls make up 15% of all of the urgent calls but only half of them were reached within eight minutes because of the demand and pressure is on thatjob. let s go to nathan, paramedic and gmb union member. can i ask you to begin with, when you hear comments from the health minister in london, health is devolved here, but ministers in london saying that paramedics are putting lives at risk, what is your response? putting lives at risk, what is your resonse? putting lives at risk, what is your response? putting lives at risk, what is your resonse? , , , ,