Ambulance workers from across Dorset are voting on whether to take strike action.

Members of the GMB union are being balloted in the coming weeks in relation to a dispute over pay.

More than 15,000 ambulance workers from 11 trusts in England and Wales have begun voting with the final day being November 29.

NHS workers in other unions, including nurses, are also being asked if they want to take strike action over pay.

Workers are angry over the Government’s imposed 4 per cent pay award - another massive real terms pay cut – as well as unsafe staffing levels across the ambulance service.

Rachel Harrison, GMB Acting National Secretary, said: “Ambulance workers don’t do this lightly - and this would be the biggest ambulance strike for 30 years.

"But more than ten years of pay cuts, plus the cost-of-living crisis, means workers can’t make ends meet. They are desperate.

"But this is much more about patient safety at least as much about pay. Delays up to 26 hours and 135,000 vacancies across the NHS mean a third of GMB ambulance workers think a delay they’ve been involved with has led to a death.

“Ambulance workers have been telling the Government for years things are unsafe. No one is listening. What else can they do?”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We value the hard work of NHS staff and are working hard to support them – including by giving over one million NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year.

“Industrial action is a matter for unions, and we urge them to carefully consider the potential impacts on patients.”

The next RMT strike dates impacting rail networks across the country will be on Thursday 3, Saturday 5, and Monday 7 November.

Postal workers from the Communication Workers Union will go on strike for 14 days next month with each day seeing varying levels of service.

NEU members, working mainly in sixth-form colleges, staged a walk-out on October 17 and are planning a possible two further strike dates next month.