Unison has voted for its members at Great Western Ambulance to go on strike next week.

But David Whiting, Chief Executive of Great Western Ambulance Service, is reassuring the public that the trust will continue to provide a safe and effective 999 service despite UNISON’s decision.

He said: “Today’s announcement from UNISON is extremely disappointing and will do nothing to benefit the many hundreds of patients we attend every day. However, I would like to reassure our public that we have robust contingency plans in place to make sure that we continue to provide effective care and that vital 999 services will not be disrupted by UNISON industrial action.

“From the outset, we have wanted to involve UNISON and, indeed, all our staff, in introducing the necessary changes to further improve the care we provide to our patients. I am confident that no-one in our organisation believes patients will benefit by threatening to withdraw the care that we provide every day.

“The changes we are making are about saving more lives. To do that, we need to ensure we have the trained staff and vehicles available when and where our patients need us.

“I also believe the changes are better for our staff. We are taking on additional frontline staff and looking to make our existing crews more effective by increasing the operational cover we provide at the busiest times – particularly evenings and weekends.

“This is not about job cuts and it is not about cutting salaries. The changes to shift start and finish times were made so that we can keep as many staff on the road at any one time.

“These changes are based on evidence and all information has been shared with staff and unions. We have spent the last six months consulting with staff and meeting with union representatives on a regular basis.

“We believe that the majority of staff understand the need for these changes, indeed only around a quarter of our A&E road crews voted for strike.”