Attacks on ambulance staff are up

A total of 140 staff in the East of England region were assaulted in 116 separate incidents in 2010/11, compared to 125 staff assaulted in 94 incidents in 2009/10.

In Bedfordshire, there were 11 incidents of staff being hurt, compared to seven last year.

Danny Daniel, the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s manager for health, safety and security said assaults against staff, sometimes by the very people they are trying to help, were “completely intolerable”.

The trust would bring appropriate legal action against anyone attacking staff, he added.

“The trust is continuing to encourage more staff to report incidents, which figures will reflect,” he said. “However while the overwhelming majority of the people our staff see are extremely supportive and appreciative of their hard work there is sadly a significant minority whose violent behaviour is absolutely unacceptable.

“These acts of aggression carried out while staff try to go about their day to day work helping those in need not only affects those staff themselves but potentially presents challenges in getting resources out to other incidents.”

In Norfolk, the number of incidents of assaults on staff more than trebled, going from eight in 2009/10 to 25 in the past year.

In Hertfordshire the figure went up from 10 to 14, in Essex it went up from 24 to 26, and in Cambridgeshire it dropped from 25 to 24.

Mr Daniel said: “The ability of ambulance crews to work safely and unhindered is paramount not only for their own wellbeing but also that of other patients, and we totally condemn any violence carried out against them. Such attacks have potentially very serious consequences.

“The trust will continue to do all within its power to ensure that appropriate action is taken by the police and Crown Prosecution Service in relation to assaults on staff.

“We also train our staff to undertake a risk assessment of every situation they attend.”

The trust said that prosecutions in the past year had included a man found guilty of common assault and sentenced to six weeks imprisonment with a further six weeks suspended for 18 months.

He was also required to compensate the trust and the staff member assaulted.