Military personnel help crew Leicestershire ambulances during strike

Members of the armed forces helped crew some ambulances across Leicestershire and Rutland this week during the period of industrial action.
By Nick Rennie
Published 22nd Feb 2023, 13:06 BST
Updated 22nd Feb 2023, 13:06 BST
Lance Bombardier Rokotubuna, from the Motor Transport department, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, based in Larkhill, and Kelly Botham, EMAS Clinical Tutor, crew an EMAS ambulance this weekLance Bombardier Rokotubuna, from the Motor Transport department, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, based in Larkhill, and Kelly Botham, EMAS Clinical Tutor, crew an EMAS ambulance this week
Lance Bombardier Rokotubuna, from the Motor Transport department, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, based in Larkhill, and Kelly Botham, EMAS Clinical Tutor, crew an EMAS ambulance this week

They were deployed to low level incidents on Monday and Tuesday after many employees of East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) went on strike.

Due to the sustained high demand on the service during the last period of industrial action, military personnel crewed up with some EMAS colleagues in the Leicestershire, Rutland and Nottinghamshire divisions.

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During this time, they worked on Urgent Care vehicles and responded to 54 lower acuity calls.

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Lance Bombardier Rokotubuna, from the Motor Transport department, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, based in Larkhill, and Kelly Botham, EMAS Clinical Tutor.Lance Bombardier Rokotubuna, from the Motor Transport department, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, based in Larkhill, and Kelly Botham, EMAS Clinical Tutor.
Lance Bombardier Rokotubuna, from the Motor Transport department, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, based in Larkhill, and Kelly Botham, EMAS Clinical Tutor.

Military personnel involved included three Royal Marines from Plymouth and Taunton, four Army from Larkhill and three RAF from Peterborough and Brize Norton.

EMAS say it was still ‘immensely challenging’ despite the support from the forces, with an additional 300 emergency calls from the public compared to the last strike day on February 6.

Employees in control rooms continued to support less seriously unwell patients with alternative pathways where appropriate.

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Ben Holdaway, EMAS director of operations, said: “I would like to take this opportunity thank everyone who continues to access NHS services wisely to enable us to focus on responding to patients who need us most.

“It is vitally important that each and every one of us continues to seek the most appropriate service for their healthcare needs – whether that is through your pharmacy, your local GP, urgent treatment centre or using NHS 111 online.

“This allows us to continue to send our limited number of available ambulances to those patients whose lives are at immediate risk - eg cardiac arrest, unconscious or catastrophic bleed, or if seriously ill or injured eg stoke or a serious traumatic injury.

“We continue to work closely with trade union colleagues to keep patients safe in any periods of industrial action and continue to fully respect the right of NHS staff to take lawful and peaceful action. However, we again urge national employer representatives and trade union colleagues to proactively engage and reach a negotiated settlement to the dispute as quickly as possible.”

Ambulance members of three unions - Unite, the GMB and Unison - have backed industrial action as they seek a better pay deal.

Related topics:LeicestershireEast Midlands Ambulance ServiceUniteNHS