More than 10,000 ambulance workers across the United Kingdom are expected to go on strike as soon as Wednesday over concerns of pay and working conditions.
“Where people are planning any risky activity, I would strongly encourage them not to do so because there will be disruption on the day,” Will Quince, the minister of state for health and secondary care, told the BBC.
Quince said contingency plans are in place for the strike, including using armed forces personnel to serve on ambulances during the walkout, the Financial Times reported.
Several ambulance trusts around the country have declared “critical incidents,” a designation meaning ambulance services are at risk of being overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, union leader Rachel Harrison defended the timing of the walkout, saying ambulance crews were experiencing “stress, burnout, exhaustion.”
She also accused the British government of “hiding” behind an independent report that more than one million National Health Service workers receive a salary increase.