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Almost 10 per cent of paramedics have been assaulted while on duty in London, new figures show.
The rate of attacks on ambulance staff in the capital is more than seven times higher than other parts of the country.
The NHS Security Management Service figures show that 433 of London's 4,600 ambulance workers were physically attacked in the past year — a rate of 93 in every 1,000. Just two people have been successfully prosecuted for the offences.
Richard Webber, director of operations for the London Ambulance Service, said: “Our staff deal with every type of emergency situation, and so for them to be assaulted while trying to help people is totally unacceptable.
“Frontline crews need to be aware of their own safety at all times, but we also know that the risk to them is heightened when patients or patients' friends are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.We take all cases of assault and verbal abuse very seriously, and strongly encourage staff to report them.”
In August a crew responding to a call on Edgware Road was covered in glass after a bottle was thrown through the window.
In September Suzanne O'Rourke, 40, a medical technician at Whipps Cross ambulance station, was shot twice after treating a patient. She had been responding to a call in Leyton and was saved from serious injury as one shot was stopped by her stab-proof vest.
John Reed, 35, an emergency medical technician, was beaten unconscious in Dagenham last December after responding to reports of a man lying unconscious in the street.
Mr Reed suffered injuries to his head and ribs after the patient leapt to his feet and beat him up.
Hospital staff are also exposed to violence. Nearly three NHS workers in London's acute hospitals are assaulted every day and 1,069 assaults on hospital staff were reported in London last year. In total there were 55,000 physical assaults on NHS workers across the country in 2008-09.
Reader views (5)
The problem is emergency services used to be treated with respect; ambulance staff were "untouchable" as the helpers and life savers. This is no longer the view, and the ambulance service is abused freely, and assaults tie in with this lack of respect.
There have always been drunken people, but ambulances were not considered for them in years gone by ...they were drunk and made their own way with friends. Society now wants other people to be responsible for them. People need to be responsible for themselves, drink sensibly.
It also doesn’t help that the ambulance management don't /won't support their staff. Staff are now a commodity and used by them as such. Being under resourced also means it may take longer for the ambulance to arrive, this makes people more volatile. To massage government figures there has been a significant increase in single staffed vehicles; they will get there quickly, but while waiting for the double staffed ambulance, are left at a greater risk of abuse
If their managers think of them like this, what hope is there for the public?
Bring the fire and ambulance service into line with the police. Make it a specific offence to assault a member of the emergency services
And be nice to them, you never know when you will need them.
- Dan, London
If you want to know why so few of these assaults gets reported, it's simple.
If we get assaulted, and defend ourselves, WE are liable to be disciplined and sacked, because senior managers in the LAS would rather believe the word of the low-life scum who commit these assaults, rather than that of their own staff. We get little or no back up and prosecutions of our assailants are as rare as hens' teeth.
- Flora Gardens, London, England
I think it is time to give these brave heros a taser each. It is the only answer.
- Max, Wimbledon, London
Time that assaults on members of the emergency services are put in a special category. Start off with minimum 5 years in prison for anybody causing harm to paramedics or fire fighters. A few strong judges could soon put a stop to this situation.
- George, Cambridge UK
Shows you just how much filth live in this stinking cesspit.
- Steve, London
