THE North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) has confirmed that it has plans in place if employees vote in favour of strike action.

Thousands of ambulance workers across the region - spanning 11 NHS trusts - began voting this week on whether to take industrial action.

Members of the GMB union are voting over the next few weeks over potential strike action that may be taken before Christmas.

Should workers vote in favour of strikes, this will be the ambulance service's 'biggest strike in 30 years,' according to the union's acting national secretary.

The balloting of members comes after the Government 'imposed' a four per cent pay rise for NHS workers - but accounting for inflation and the cost of living, this is a real-terms pay cut.

GMB union says that the strikes could impact around 15,000 members of the ambulance service.

The North West Ambulance Service is responsible for the care of around seven million people across the region, covering more than 5,000 square miles - the service handles 1.3 million 999 calls every year.

NWAS admitted that the strike action is something beyond the service's control, but that it is looking into finding ways to mitigate the impact strikes would have on patients.

A spokesperson for the NWAS said: "This is the result of a national pay dispute and not one we can control.

"We recognise this is a difficult time across the country, including for our staff who work incredibly hard to support the people of the North West.

"We are keeping track of the situation and have plans to minimise any impact on patients should a future ballot result in industrial action."

Rachel Harrison, GMB acting national secretary, said: "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."

She continued: "Ambulance workers have been telling the Government for years things are unsafe.

"No one is listening. What else can they do?"

North West Ambulance Service workers continue to be balloted over potential industrial action that could take place in the coming months.