A&E ambulance arrivals at the NHS trust which runs Fairfield General Hospital were below average on January 11 - the day ambulance workers went on strike across the country, new figures suggest.  

Around 25,000 ambulance workers from the Unison and GMB trade unions went on strike on the day, with staggered walkouts staged across England and Wales.

Every ambulance region other than the East of England was affected by the strikes.

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The latest NHS England data suggests the number of ambulances arriving at A&E departments across England on January 11 was 26 per cent below the average across the other weekdays last week.

At the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, 127 ambulances arrived at A&E on January 11, 29 per cent below the average of 178.

Nationally, ambulance handover delays improved on the strike day, with six per cent of arrivals waiting longer than an hour, compared to nine per cent across the rest of the week.

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Rachel Harrison, national secretary at the GMB, said: "This government has left our NHS so broken that performance actually improved on strike day.

"Instead of praising them, this government has demonised them and pushed through a fresh attack on workers' rights.

"They are scaremongering and playing political games – they need to talk pay now."

The GMB union have announced they will be striking on four more dates, February 6, which coincides with a nurse's strike announced by the Royal College of Nursing, February 20, and March 6 and 20.

The Unite union have announced 10 more strike days over the coming weeks.

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Both unions are asking for a pay rise above inflation, but the government have offered an average pay rise of 4.75 per cent, which is below current inflation.

Of the 1,166 ambulance arrivals at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in the week to January 15, 10 per cent were delayed by at least 30 minutes, down from 21 per cent the week before.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: "It is welcome to see improvements in urgent and emergency care performance in the latest data.

"There is still considerable work to do, but we continue to support health and care services throughout this difficult period as well as engaging constructively with unions to find a resolution to ongoing strike action.

"I announced up to £250m of funding to immediately reduce hospital bed occupancy, alleviate pressures on A&E and unlock delays in handing patients over from ambulances."

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