A PARAMEDIC described the mood on the picket line at her ambulance station in Goole, east Yorkshire, as “upbeat and determined” this morning.

Dawn Turner is a member of GMB, one of the three unions urging the government to enter discussions about their need for a pay rise in the ambulance dispute.

Last week she was in Westminster hoping to meet Tory Health Secretary Steve Barclay to put the unions’ case.

“MPs were queuing up to speak to us,” she said. But Mr Barclay was not among them.

“He doesn’t want us to even exist,” said Ms Turner, who has worked for Yorkshire Ambulance Service for 14 years. “He didn’t even have the decency to acknowledge our existence.”

Today she was back in Yorkshire, on the picket line, and on strike.

“Deliver a baby. Save a life. Elderly fall. All in the same shift,” read one of the placards at the picket.

Another said: “A newly qualified paramedic, as a lone parent, is better off on benefits than saving lives.” Yet ambulance paramedics must have degree-level qualifications to take up their jobs.

The workers do not have a problem with bosses at Yorkshire Ambulance Service. “This isn’t a fight against our management,” Ms Turner said. “Our management has been supportive of all its staff, and back us on our right to take this forward.

“It’s about the government coming to the table and having the common decency to talk to us about what we want.”

Today’s pickets in Goole enjoyed the continuing — even increasing — support of the public with regular waves, beeps from cars and trucks and shouts of encouragement.

“We’ve had tremendous support,” said Ms Turner.

But the government appears not to be getting the message.

Ms Turner finished her picketing shift at noon but planned to be back at 6pm.

She will be preparing for the next strike on February 20 unless the government comes to the negotiating table before that.

“This is going on until we get what we believe we deserve,” she said. “It’s going to go on until they decide to talk to us.”