Rise in assaults on ambulance staff 'alarming'

A BBC investigation has found there have been nearly 3,000 incidents of abuse faced by West Midlands Ambulance Service staff over the past five years.

Staff said they had been punched, kicked, threatened with weapons and verbally abused.

Dan Knight, Head of Security and Safety at the organisation, said that was not what staff had signed up for.

Across England more than 45,000 assaults were recorded by ambulance services, according to figures obtained by the BBC.

Mr Knight said the violence and abuse was not only targeted at front-line crews, but also patient transport teams doing hospital transfers, call assessors and control room staff.

He said the number of incidents was increasing "quite rapidly", which he described as "alarming".

"The aggressive callers that call up that swear, that threaten to assault call assessors' children, sexually assault people, all down the phone - I’m talking about those comments that are deeply upsetting for our call assessors," he said.

There were 472 incidents reported in the region in 2019, which rose to 581 in 2020, and reached 608 in 2021.

There were 584 incidents reported in 2022, but peaked at 640 in 2023.

Statistics from 2019 to 2022 were compiled by West Midlands Ambulance Service and the 2023 figures came from an Association of Ambulance Chief Executives report.

The trust covers the whole of the West Midlands including Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Coventry, Birmingham and the Black Country.

Following the BBC investigation, the government said there was a "zero-tolerance approach to this type of behaviour" and warned that those who assaulted emergency workers could face up to two years in prison.

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