South West ambulance staff assaulted or abused 6,000 times in five years
Bosses at the SWASFT are urging patients to treat staff with respect
Last updated 26th Apr 2022
Ambulance staff across the South West have experienced over 6,000 cases of assaults and abuse over the past five years.
Officials say they face the possibility of violence and aggression each time they start a shift.
The South Western Ambulance Service Trust (SWAST) has shared the figure on social media as they urge people to treat workers with respect.
SWAST posted online: "Ambulance staff face the possibility of violence, assault and aggression each time they start a shift.
"Please treat staff with the respect they deserve and allow them to #WorkWithoutFear.
"SWASFT supports the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives' campaign to protect our colleagues as they carry out their lifesaving work".
This time last year, it was revealed ambulance workers across the South West had reported over 300 physical assaults since the UK first went into lockdown.
The service says it saw more than 1,747 incidents of violence and aggression during that time.
That works out to almost five per day between 24th March 2020 and 23rd of March 2021 and is a rise of over 30% on the year before.
Bosses say staff, from frontline crews to call handlers, all experience abuse from patients.
At the time paramedic Mike Jones, who is SWASFT's Violence Reduction Lead, said: "Sadly our people are victim every day to unacceptable behaviour from a minority of patients and other members of the public, while they are serving the communities of the South West and saving lives. Any such incident can have a lasting impact on them, their loved ones, and other colleagues.
"We take whatever is necessary to protect our people from harm, including doing all we can to ensure offenders are prosecuted through the criminal justice system.
"Please respect our people, and help them to help you".