A North East Ambulance Service boss has thanked the public for their help during an "incredibly challenging day" as staff walked out for a second day of strike action.
The UNISON and GMB unions were holding a second day of strike action as the wider NHS dispute with the Government over pay continues. At NEAS "most" teams were unavailable, chief operating officer Stephen Segasby said. Striking workers had however agreed to attend the most urgent cases.
At this stage, there is a further strike planned for January 23 - but UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea told ChronicleLive on Wednesday how she hoped the Government would use the ten day period before that to "seriously talk" about how to resolve the dispute.
Regarding the impact in the North East, Mr Segasby said: "Yesterday was an incredibly challenging day for our service. Most of our teams were unavailable due to the industrial action. We received fewer 999 calls yesterday and we thank the public enormously for using our service wisely so that we could reach those most in need.
"Time spent in handovers at hospital was also significantly lower and we thank our acute hospital partners for all of their support because it meant that we could respond to patients waiting in the community quickly. Our wider NHS service also gave us huge support to help triage, treat and signpost patients in the community to minimise the impact on our services.
“Thanks also to our third-party providers, volunteers and staff who helped to keep the service available to respond to patients with life threatening conditions."
Mr Segasby explained the service was "now in a period of recovery" and it was vital that the public continued to help ambulance crews to protect those in the greatest need. He said: "We ask that the public continue to consider which is the best service for their needs and only call 999 in a life or limb threatening emergency."
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