AMBULANCE staff across Wales are to go on strike later this month, the union GMB, has confirmed this lunch time.

The union says that 1,500 paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff across Wales will strike on 21 and 28 December, from 00:01 until 23:59 each day.

Workers across the ambulance services voted to strike over a four per cent pay award – which they describe as a ‘massive real terms pay cut’.

GMB representatives will now meet with Wales Ambulance Service to discuss requirements for life and limb cover.

Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said:  “Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees.

“No one in the NHS takes strike action lightly – today shows just how desperate they are.

“This is as much about unsafe staffing levels and patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient.

“Something has to change or the service as we know it will collapse.

“GMB calls on the Government to avoid a winter of NHS strikes by negotiating a pay award that these workers deserve.”