Military personnel on hand to cover striking NHS workers

Military personnel across the UK have been on hand to support Britain's healthcare sector as NHS staff went out on strike.

Workers, including nursing and ambulance staff walked out today, 6 February, in the biggest day of industrial action to hit the healthcare sector in the current pay dispute.

Military personnel have been called on to help the NHS during the strikes, with up to 300 on hand to drive ambulances.

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• Personnel that covered Border Force strikes remain on standby for any further industrial action

The health care strikes came after the Business Secretary said a lack of cooperation between striking workers and the Government was making it hard for the military to provide cover.

Grant Shapps also criticised the ambulance unions for not giving the Government the information to ensure the Army could cover them.

Mr Shapps added that would leave the Army "in a very difficult position - a postcode lottery when it comes to having a heart attack or a stroke when there is a strike on".

The latest action comes after 600 Armed Forces personnel stepped in to cover half a million striking workers across numerous sectors at the beginning of the month.

On 1 February, train drivers, teachers, university lecturers and roughly 100,000 civil servants went on strike in a row over pay and conditions - the largest-scale strike day in more than a decade.

It also marked the second time the military provided cover for striking Border Force workers, with personnel operating passport booths at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester airports, and the port of Newhaven in East Sussex in December.