UNISON members working for the South West Ambulance Service will take industrial action on Monday (October 13).

The action is part of the union’s national campaign to reinstate the 1% pay rise recommended by the NHS Pay Review Body but not honoured by the Government.

Taking part will be paramedics, nurses, technicians, staff working for the 111 out of hours service, and other administrative and logistical support workers.

As well as Monday’s strike between 7am and 11am, there will also be an overtime ban for the rest of the week until Friday.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “This Government's treatment of NHS workers has angered them and this anger has now turned into action.

“Refusing to pay them even a paltry 1% shows what the Government really thinks about its health workers.

“Inflation has continued to rise since 2011 and the value of NHS pay has fallen by around 12%.

"We know health workers don’t take strike action lightly or often. The last action over pay was 32 years ago. But we also know a demoralised and demotivated workforce isn’t good for patients.”

South-West paramedic Mark Bradford said: “A standard day … delivered a baby, attended an elderly patient with a fractured hip, blue lighted to hospital a patient suffering a heart attack for primary angioplasty, successfully resuscitated a heroin overdose and reversed a diabetic patient with low blood sugars.

“Tomorrow might call for more…or less of the same, or something totally different.

“After four years of pay stand still, whilst inflation has risen by over 12% I now earn less than a labourer shovelling gravel on the railways….that can’t be right.

“We know that patient care suffers if staff are demoralised and worried about making ends meet.

“It’s tough out there; all I’m saying is that we deserve fair pay for the work that we do and in the past four years I have watched my quality of life and income fall in direct correlation with the increase in workload.

“Staff are on their knees and just need fair recognition and recompense for their professionalism and dedication without having to put in overtime shifts, working every hour God gives to put food on the table”

Nurse Michelle Goodman who works on the 111 service for the South West said: “I am a single mum with a son at college, I am £780 down each year, EMA has been scrapped and I am losing sleep worrying about how to pay my bills.

“No-one is listening to the struggle, so I am taking action to say enough, I am really worried how I will get through the winter. I have no money for coal”

Joanne Kaye, UNISON South-West regional secretary said: “Our members across the board work hard to deliver quality public services, day in day out and deserve a decent pay rise.

“The MPs’ pay review body recommended an award of 9%. While prices rise and rise, many of our members and their families are finding it impossible to cope.

“As the end of the month draws close, the choice between car fuel, grocery shopping or school meals becomes harder and harder. Our members are simply asking for a fair pay rise.

“UNISON members in the ambulance service and other services put their lives on the line every day and yet it seems are not valued by this government in the same way MPs are.”