STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Ambulance chiefs today warned Londoners that a NHS pay strike on Thursday will be “much more disruptive” than before – with thousands of people not getting emergency help. Car crash victims, people with broken bones, pregnant women in labour and pensioners who have fallen and cannot get up will not get a response if their condition is not life-threatening. This goes well beyond restrictions introduced during previous walkouts as the latest dispute is scheduled to last for 24 hours – six times longer than before. The action, due to start at midnight on Wednesday, will place the London Ambulance Service (LAS) under unprecedented pressure, with soldiers and police driving ambulances and nurses and doctors volunteering as stand-in paramedics. Its effects are expected to continue well into Friday.