Minimum level of service for strikers.

[Kaz]

Who is kidding whom?

You are kidding yourself - your filter is wrong.

Teams are ready to go when a shout comes in. They are not all physically 'on the picket line', those who would be on shift are kitted out and ready to go on life-threatening calls, same as normal.

I have family members and neighbours doing the job and your second sentence is a work of fiction.

I was also in the forces and manned a Green Goddess in Stafford during the fire service strikes. We were on the Weston Rd roundabout some 50 yards from the main fire station. Those fire fighters might have been on strke but they were ready to go if a major shout came in. As ready as at any other time.

This. Interestingly, the info so far 're the last strike days show that far from lots more people dying things went as well, if not slightly better than usual. These guys are determined that people won't suffer, a huge part of why they're striking is because people are suffering from the run down of the services over the last decade.

[Suff]

Understand Kaz. I just have a really negative view of strikes in a key critical service.

[miasmum]

but its obvious why things went better, because the British public weren't calling them out because they had a cut finger, a sprained ankle, indigestion. Basically they remembered for once that A&E means accident and emergency and not anything and everything

the biggest problem with the NHS is stupid, arrogant, pathetic ignorant people

[Kaz]

Yes there is definitely an element of that! Jeff (BiL) was once called out to turn over someone's television.

[Suff]

the biggest problem with the NHS is stupid, arrogant, pathetic ignorant people

Well one of the biggest problems. I'm going to book a CT angiogram private (£1,500), because the response to a referral to NHS cardio was one single text to my mobile with a HTML link in it. When it expired, no follow up at all. I don't have time for this level of care and will pay for the level of care I need.

There are many issues with the NHS. Not least the wilful lying to self about the budget and then lying to all and sundry over the budget. Leading to "manage by ignore".

BTW it depends on the press about how well they are doing. In the Google news portal it is almost exclusively "too long". I didn't bother with that very much as there is an agenda there. If it had truly been really bad all the press would have had these stories.

I am trying to be fair.