North West Paramedics facing abuse from patients and public
New figures reveal ambulance crews in the North West face above average levels of physical violence
Last updated 12th Apr 2018
North West Ambulance Service has been slammed, after figures revealed paramedics are being subjected to physical violence from patients, family and members of the public.
The statistics, from the 2017 NHS Staff Survey, reveal 38% of paramedics reported being physically attacked, compared to the national average - 33%.
On top of this, the survey also found staff felt pressured to attend work when they were sick - 64% of NWAS staff said they had come into work despite feeling unwell, compared to 62% nationally.
David Rigby is a Sector Manager with the North West Ambulance Service:
"Sadly it's become quite commonplace for our frontline staff to become victims of abuse, both physically and verbally - thankfully more verbal than physical. Our clinicians work really hard to help people in their time of need, so we find it appalling.
"We understand that sometimes it's around alcohol, drugs and mindset but we make it clear there is a zero tolerance approach to any sort of violence. We encourage our staff to report it but it still amazes me that someone can be physically abused while they're at work.
"It's just this minority who think it's acceptable to abuse us."
"This is the small minority of the public who do this - the large percentage of the public have a great deal of respect for us and show us support wherever we go, offering ambulance crews coffee, we see in the press when people purchase items for them when they go out shopping. We know that the public support us, it's just this minority who think it's acceptable to abuse us."
He also believes the higher levels of violence in the North West could be down to the fact more paramedics in the area are reporting incidents:
"We do our utmost to make sure we're reporting it and to raise awareness to let members of the public know it's unacceptable."
"The work we do with our staff is about reporting it, and we have a very robust reporting system in place. We do our utmost to make sure we're reporting it and to raise awareness to let members of the public know it's unacceptable to treat members of staff in the way some of them do."
The survey has called on local bodies to do more to help paramedics and NWAS staff to feel safer in the workplace.