SCORES of NHS staff across Worcestershire walked out for the second time in as many months yesterday in a row over pay.

Union members staged a four-hour strike between 7am and 11am yesterday as part of a dispute after the government decided not to apply a one per cent pay increase to all members of staff.

Although there were fears last week that elderly and vulnerable patients would be put at risk with ambulances were unable to respond to all but the most life-threatening call, as your Worcester News went to press it was unclear how widespread the disruption had been.

At West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) 202 people – 41 per cent of the entire workforce on duty – walked out, including 40 in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire, while a further 127 worked to exemptions, only responding to potentially life-threatening emergencies.

This was the second strike in the long-running dispute, with members of unions including Unison and GMB also walking out on Tuesday, October 14.

But before last month NHS staff had not gone on strike for more than 30 years.

Speaking after the strike had ended, chief executive of West Midlands Ambulance Service Anthony Marsh said: “Taking strike action is a very difficult decision for our staff.

“However, through a combination of pre-planning and agreements with union representatives we have been able to maintain an emergency service for the most seriously ill and injured patients.

“Our staff work extremely hard in often very difficult circumstances and we have sympathy for their position.”

At Worcestershire Royal Hospital and the two other sites run by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust – Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital – 77 people walked out, more than twice the amount who took part in last month’s strike.

But it is believed services and clinics at all three hospitals continued to run as normal.

Only nine union members working at Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust took part in yesterday's strike, representing less than one per cent of those expected at work. No services run by the organisation – which runs mental health and community services across the county - were affected.

Union members will continue to take action short of a strike throughout this week and health bosses have urged people only to call 999 in a genuine emergency.

For non-urgent health advice visit a GP, pharmacy or one of the county’s five Minor Injuries Units in Malvern, Evesham, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove or Tenbury, which can deal with a wide range of non life-threatening conditions and where waiting times are often much shorter than at A&E.

Health advice is also available free from NHS 111.