North East Paramedics Victims Of Alcohol Fuelled Violence

Almost half of North East paramedics have been subjected to alcohol-fuelled physical assaults whilst on duty.

That's according to a study released by the North East alchohol charity Balance.

They claim two in five of the paramedics surveyed in our region have also been sexually assaulted or harassed by patients and members of the public who have drunk too much.

Yvonne Ormston is Chief Executive of the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) she told Metro Radio it can be extremely frustrating for staff.

"It can be quite hard for our staff to work through those situations because their primary aim is to help people, and then to find they're being assaulted or abused by the very people they are trying to help. That is quite worrying and quite sad."

Unsurprisingly, they’ve had enough, with three in five saying they shouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of alcohol misuse at all.