HEALTH Secretary Steve Barclay was accused of launching a despicable attack on striking ambulance workers today after he claimed that they have made a “conscious choice to inflict harm” on patients.

Mr Barclay’s inflammatory attack caused fury among union leaders, who accused ministers of causing a year-round mounting death toll of patients through NHS underfunding, understaffing and government failures.

Figures released today shows a 133 per cent increase this year in patients dying while waiting in ambulances to be transferred into hospital, with the reasons for the delays including overflowing A&E departments, lack of beds and staffing shortages.

The number of deaths increased from 40 to 93 and the number of patients who suffered “severe harm” due to delays tripled from 51 patients to 154 in a year.

The figures, obtained by the GMB union using freedom of Information regulations, compared the years 2020-21 with 2021-22 and added to the anger provoked by Mr Barclay’s accusation.

GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said: “Ambulance workers are seething at such a crude, insulting attempt to divert attention from the government’s continued chaos in the NHS.

“The public know it’s not ambulance workers who have presided over a decade of failure.

“Already today, paramedics and ambulance workers have left picket lines to attend to emergency calls. They’ll always put the public first.

“It’s time for the government to follow their example.”

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “People are already dying or getting sicker every day because the government’s let the NHS get into such a dire state.

“Ministers have sat back while ambulance response times worsened and waiting lists reached record highs.

“Trying to paint ambulance workers and their unions as the bad guys in this dispute won’t wash.

“People know it’s ministers who are recklessly putting lives at risk by refusing to negotiate.

“For them to treat them like this today is utterly shocking.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham accused Mr Barclay of uttering a “blatant lie” with his claim about ambulance unions choosing to harm patients.

From a picket line in Longford, Coventry, she said the government should get back around the negotiating table “so we can do a deal.”

She added: “People are leaving the NHS to go and work in Tesco and Amazon. There is something drastically wrong with that.

“They [ambulance workers] went out when Covid was rife. Nobody knew there was going to be a vaccine.

“Now that crisis is over, those exact same workers have been treated like dirt.”

NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor said: “It is right when the trade unions say that even if there was no industrial action, no strikes, we would still have a workforce crisis in the NHS.”

A striking Nottinghamshire paramedic pointed out that patients’ lives have been at risk “longer than these strikes were even considered.

“I’ve attended elderly patients who have been on the floor with broken hips for over 20 hours,” he added.

The action by ambulance workers across England and Wales is their first national strike for 30 years.

Members of the public noisily showed their support for the workers’ cause, as they had for nurses on Tuesday, with a cacophony of honking horns and thumbs-up gestures by drivers.

In some regions, firefighters joined picket lines in solidarity with their emergency service colleagues.

Fire Brigades Union Yorkshire and Humber regional secretary David Williams told the Morning Star: “Firefighters naturally want to support the ambulance workers and we will stand with them until their fight is won.”

In north-west England, firefighters joined pickets at Manchester Central ambulance station.

Pickets at the London Ambulance Service headquarters in Waterloo hung up banners reading: “Support the ambulance workers” and: “Unison ambulance workers, together we rise.”

GMB rep Stuart Fegan, picketing at Walton-on-Thames, described public support for the strike as “absolutely overwhelming.”

He said: “We’ve got members of the public dropping off food for our striking members and you can hear the cars honking their horns as they drive past.

“We know from the polls that public support for this strike is overwhelming.”

A Royal Mail van pulled up and handed pork pies to pickets. Marks and Spencer donated a food hamper and firefighters delivered alcohol-free beers.

GMB, Unison and Unite insisted that they were always ready to meet the government for pay negotiations.