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'People calling 999 say they're going to kill me'

Alastair Fee
Health Correspondent, BBC South
When call handlers face abuse, they are able to hang up after giving three warnings

An emergency call handler has revealed the abuse she receives from people she is trying to help, including threats to "kill" and "stalk" her.

Lily Lambert has worked for South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), based in Otterbourne, Hampshire, for three years and said she faces vitriol from the public every day.

Violence and abuse against paramedics and emergency call handlers is on the rise, the BBC recently found.

The ambulance service said staff were encouraged to report verbal assaults to the police.

The service covers Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

Ms Lambert said it was her first job since leaving school, adding: "People say they're going to come to my house and kill me, people saying they're going to stalk me, calling me all sorts of names that I can't repeat.

"Some shifts it will be every call... it does get to you."

Lily Lambert at her desk at the South Central Ambulance Service Call Centre in Hampshire. She is wearing a green NHS uniform and there are computer screens at her desk, with maps on.
Lily Lambert says she gets threatened over the phone on every shift

There were almost 45,000 physical and verbal assaults recorded on ambulance frontline and operations staff across England between 2019 and 2023, recent figures revealed.

Gemma Robinson, head of emergency operations at SCAS, said they had a "three strikes" approach.

"We will ask people twice to stop being offensive, if they continue after the second warning we will terminate the call - which takes people to a recorded message explaining why," she said.

"We don't tolerate abuse but we have to understand that people aren't always in the best place when they're calling us."

SCAS has not got an official record of how many of these calls are abusive, but recognises it is a problem.

Control room staff receive training, which includes managing difficult calls.

They are also encouraged to have a debrief with their team leader, who can help decide if further support is needed.

Gemma Robinson, a woman with mid-length blonde hair, wearing a green jacket with an NHS logo on it. The background is blurred but there are a couple of computer screens.
Call handlers have the support of supervisors during shifts, according to SCAS's head of emergency operations, Gemma Robinson

The BBC was given access to one shift in February and found that, as well as the abuse, it is a service the public often use incorrectly.

"I've had someone who wanted a paramedic to see their dog, or stubbed their toe," Ms Lambert said.

"I've had one from a guy that ate some meat that had been in his fridge for two years and was wondering why his stomach hurt - it's all very strange."

The service gets about 2,300 calls a day on average, up from 1,600 ten years ago.

At its worst this winter, Ms Lambert has had 10 calls waiting, with some patients identified as non-urgent waiting up to 20 hours for an ambulance.

Despite the abuse, she is working toward becoming a paramedic and could be on the road within six months.

In January, SCAS was the top performing trust in the UK for Category 2 calls, attending patients with health problems like chest pains and suspected strokes.

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