SOUTH Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) workers have resorted to striking as they say patient safety has been jeopardised due to inadequate staffing.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) within the southern ambulance service formed a picket line outside the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust in Otterbourne, striking on February 6 and 7 from 8am until 2pm.

Cars driving past the picket line beeped their horns in support of the staff who are campaigning for better pay and working conditions.

Nurse clinician for the 111 service, Anne Carter, who was out protesting on both days said the group in Sparrowgrove, Otterbourne was a “small but formidable picket”.

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Anne, 60, continued: “We have to protect our profession and improve patient and staff safety. I’ve been in nursing for 40 years and this is the first time we’ve taken strike action.

“People have had enough and we need to let them see. All we want is to sit down and negotiate a better way forward.”

Hampshire Chronicle:

Specialist practitioner for SCAS, Penny Smith, was also there waving her sign: “Honk if you support fair pay for nursing.” Penny, 46, said: “We have to strike because they’re not listening. It’s not just 2023, this has been going on for a very long time.

“I work on the front line and the amount of queues at hospitals is ridiculous. People are dying because we can’t get them in.

“The students coming through are not going to stay because they burn out too early. My son is starting a nursing degree in September and he will in end up in £27,000 of debt to have a starting salary which is even less than that. They say the average nursing salary is £34,000 but that’s for band six staff which there are only a couple of at each facility. What about the supporting staff?”

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A spokeserson for SCAS said: "There are only a small number of RCN members taking action within SCAS and the impact to patient care is therefore minimal."

February 6 marked the biggest day of industrial action in the 75-year history of the NHS, with the two days of strikes taking place across 73 NHS trusts in England.

RCN’s general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen addressed a letter to the Prime Minister over the weekend in hope of re-opening discussions about the 2022-23 NHS pay award and ending the strikes.

Cullen said: “The strike action for England remains – with tens of thousands of nurses losing wages to ensure you hear their voice. It must not be in vain.”