ens of thousands of ambulance workers who are members of the Unison, Unite and GMB unions are striking this month.
Two days of planned strike action will take place on March 6 and 20.
The strikes follow industrial action last month after the unions failed to make a deal with Health Secretary Steve Barclay earlier in January.
The GMB Union said: “There is a staffing crisis in the ambulance service. There needs to be an investment in the workforce — or people will continue to leave in droves.”
However, a strike by Welsh Ambulance Service staff, also due to take place on March 6, has been called off.
The GMB and Unite unions said they had “paused” the industrial action after “significant progress has been made”.
More than half of Wales’s ambulance workers went on strike in a continued dispute over pay and working conditions in February, with Unite and GMB members both walking out.
When are the ambulance strikes?
Ambulance workers in England are striking on March 6 and March 20. These include paramedics, ambulance technicians, emergency-care assistants, and other 999 crew members.
This follows 24-hour strikes that took place in January and February.
Alongside ambulance staff walkouts, several other NHS workers are set to strike.
Why are ambulance staff striking?
The dispute is between the unions and the Government over pay levels, staffing, and concerns about staff leaving the health service. The unions do not believe the current pay offer is acceptable.
Unite, whose officials were in the meeting with Mr Barclay, described an updated pay offer as an insult to its members.
How much do ambulance staff earn?
Unions are calling for pay rises higher than four per cent, that are offered to most under the NHS Agenda for Change pay structure, which they say amounts to a real-terms pay cut.
Ambulance workers are calling for a higher pay increase than the £1,400 being offered.
For newly qualified paramedics and those with experience, different bands of pay are on the NHS pay scale, with salaries dependent on where in the country they are.
Band 5 on the NHS pay scale includes newly qualified paramedics with a starting salary of £27,055, rising to £32,934 in most of the UK.
In London, newly qualified paramedics earn between £31,163 and £37,875.
Experienced paramedics working for at least two years are in Band 6 of the pay scale. They earn £33,706 a year, rising to £35,572 after two years, and up to £40,588 after five.
In London, experienced paramedics earn between £38,762 and £45,765.
What emergency help is available during the strikes?
The unions have agreed to respond to all category one calls, which involve the most life-threatening conditions such as cardiac arrests. Some trusts have also said they will make exemptions for certain category two incidents, such as stroke and chest pain.
However, Mr Barclay says that organising sufficient cover to respond to the most serious emergencies has been made “almost impossible” by local union arrangements being changed at the last minute.
Pregnant women who are very close to their due date are encouraged to plan their travel in case they go into labour during the strikes.
The public has been advised to take sensible steps to keep themselves and others safe during this period, including not drinking excessively and checking up on vulnerable people in their communities.
Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, has encouraged people to drive suspected stroke victims to hospital.
People have been told to call 999 for only life-threatening problems, and to use 111 online as a first port of call for everything else.
While the armed forces have been drafted in to help, their role will be limited. They won’t be sent out on critical care call-outs or be allowed to provide any clinical care.
They also won’t be allowed to go through red lights and turn on the blue ambulance lights when driving.