Ambulance strikes - December 2022

Ambulance services across England are set to go on strike from 12 noon until midnight on the 21st December 2022.

As you may be aware from current media coverage, the emergency service teams including ambulance staff, paramedics and 999 call handlers will form part of the national strike. The staffing urgent and critical services will be their priority during this time.

Expected Risks:

• We expect a higher volume of calls during the strike periods, when service users may be unable to get help from the UK emergency services.
• We anticipate that any non-emergency ambulance calls will have excessive wait times, but also calling through to the emergency services will take longer.

We are reviewing staffing levels and rotas to accommodate a potential influx of calls in both the Alarm Response Centre and our Emergency Home Response services.

How you could assist:

• We ask that service users to refrain from testing their lifeline alarms on the 21st December
• Please ensure your emergency contacts and Next of Kin details are up to date
• We ask that service users consider having a contact in place, wherever possible, that could take them to a hospital if emergency help is needed on these days.

We are continuously reviewing official information from the relevant authorities and organisations and will amend our plans where necessary.