Bedford paramedic reveals abuse faced by NHS workers on a daily basis

A paramedic from Bedford has exposed the abuse faced by ambulance staff every day – lifting the lid on the verbal and physical assault they experience while trying to help patients.

Emily has revealed the shocking reality of life on the road as a paramedic for an NHS ambulance service.

The 26-year-old described a day when she had to take care of four different patients, all of whom were going to lose their lives in the next 24 hours.

She said: “The hardest thing during the pandemic was taking patients to hospital knowing they would likely die, and not being able to let them take their relatives.

"You get a snapshot of a patient’s life when they are with loved ones in the back of the ambulance, so it was hard taking children into hospital who were only allowed one parent.”

She added: “I know colleagues who have been beaten up, assaulted and sworn at while trying to help patients.”

Emily – who works in the emergency clinical assessment and triage team – exposes the shocking impact of record ambulance waiting times, not only on patients, but also paramedics.

“People abuse us a lot. It would be nice not to get shouted at or sworn at when we are taking too long to get to patients – because believe me, we’re horrified about the delays too and feel so guilty.”

She was speaking out about her experiences as part of Optical Express’ Thanks a Million campaign, which aims to thank NHS and emergency service workers for the extraordinary work they do by donating £1 million worth of free laser eye surgery.

Some of the challenges of Emily’s job have been eased by the free laser eye surgery, as she no longer worries about breaking her glasses, or her contact lenses falling out during a shift.

Emily recalled how wearing glasses made it harder to help patients: “My glasses used to steam up so I couldn’t see the monitor we use to check oxygen levels, blood pressure, and heart rate – things which can be vital to keeping patients alive,” she said.