Responding to more planned strikes over pay by ambulance services staff, NHS Providers' interim chief executive Saffron Cordery said:

"Four more days of strikes by GMB ambulance staff will deal another blow to already overloaded health services. And now Unite is set to announce more ambulance strikes by its members.

"We understand the strength of feeling among NHS staff and nobody wants these strikes to happen. To stave off another wave of strikes and help the NHS the government must sit down with the unions urgently and address pay for the current financial year.

"Trusts plan and prepare for industrial action to support staff and do all they can to minimise the impact on patients and day-to-day business. But with incredibly high levels of A&E attendances and delays discharging patients from hospital beds, severely hampering overstretched ambulance services, things are likely only to get worse if these strikes go ahead."