Emergency help from the Army to prop up the NHS during winter strikes would be “incredibly welcome”, a health service leader has said.
Health and defence officials are drawing up a contingency plan as ambulance drivers agreed to join nurses on the picket lines in the weeks ahead.
Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said it will be an “incredibly testing time” for the health service due to industrial action.
Asked about the possibility of military assistance, she said: “I think that it will be incredibly welcome for the army to play a role.”
Ms Cordery said: “I think it is probably clear that that will be a role at the margins, for example, the army did help out during the pandemic but it was on issues such as helping with the vaccination drive.
“I think what we have got to remember is we will really welcome their support but that won’t play a central role in keeping the ambulance service going,” the health leader added.
Armed forces personnel could drive ambulances and stand in for frontline hospital roles under emergency plans to deal with a possible winter of strikes.
As first reported by the Times, the government could utilise the military aid to the civil authorities protocol (Maca) to keep key services in the NHS running during major walkouts from mid-December.
Unison announced on Tuesday that thousands of 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics and their colleagues working for ambulance services are set to strike over pay – probably before Christmas.
Ambulance response times will be “incredibly stretched” when thousands of 999 call handlers, paramedics and other staff walk out, said Ms Cordery.
She said NHS trusts would do all they could to mitigate risks to patients but the health service was already experiencing a challenging time.
The NHS Providers leader said: “What we can say is that trust leaders up and down the country have tried and tested plans in place to mitigate the risks of these strikes, and they really understand the situation that NHS staff are in, in terms of receiving a below inflation pay award.”
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The decision to take action and lose a day’s pay is always a tough call … But thousands of ambulance staff and their NHS colleagues know delays won’t lessen, nor waiting times reduce, until the government acts on wages.”
Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said up to 100,000 nurses will stay off work on 15 and 20 December unless the government starts to engages with pay demands in detail.
The RCN set out details of where nurses would be going on strike in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A separate pay offer has been made in Scotland.
Union general secretary Pat Cullen said she was disappointed that Mr Barclay and health ministers had “declined my offer of formal pay negotiations and instead chosen strike action”.
But health secretary Steve Barclay has reiterated that the union demand of pay rise to meet inflation plus 5 per cent is “not affordable”.
In Scotland, Unison is recommending its NHS members vote to accept the latest offer from the Scottish government which will see a £2,205 increase for the lowest paid staff, and more for those on higher bands.
That vote closes on December 12. In Wales, the threshold necessary for strike action was not met anywhere, and its health committee is to meet to decide on its next steps.
