Ambulance service for Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strikes back with hard-hitting campaign against abuse

The Trust is responsible for providing NHS ambulance services in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
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The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust has responded to increased assaults and abuse against staff with a tough publicity campaign that spells out the impact that abuse has on crews and their ability to do their job.

The Choose Respect! campaign features shocking images of ambulance crew members and text describing being violently or sexually assaulted while on duty, along with facts about how it affected their ability to work.

Alex, 27, is an Emergency Medical Technician, working out of Thetford, who volunteered to feature in the campaign.

Alex - an Emergency Medical Technician - features in the campaignAlex - an Emergency Medical Technician - features in the campaign
Alex - an Emergency Medical Technician - features in the campaign

He was assaulted on Boxing Day 2019 by a violent drunk, causing him to be off work for more than a week. He said: “We had taken our patient to West Suffolk Hospital, when there was a problem with another patient being admitted in front of us.

"The patient became aggressive to the duty sister and the students, and when I went over to him, he punched my colleague.

“I managed to push him out the of door, where he began to try and break into the back of an ambulance before he returned and tried to hit me.

“I dodged the punch, but didn’t expect the head-butt. The security team and two passing prison guards came to my assistance, and the police took him away.

“There was no major damage, but I was off work for a week and a half as I couldn’t drive because of headaches. And I had a black eye for three weeks.

"I’m more hesitant now about going into situations that are flagged as potentially violent… instead of going in and seeing what the situation is, I’ll wait until the police arrive.”

Chief Executive Dorothy Hosein said the campaign was intended to make people aware that assaults against staff were not without consequences.

She said: “We are seeing a steady increase in assaults and abuse, year-on-year from just over 1,000 incidents in 2015-16 to over 1,300 in 2018-19.

“This has to stop. There were 250 incidents between March 1 and June 11 this year alone.

"Not only does this cause terrible long-term physical and psychological harm to our employees, but clinicians and other essential staff needing time off work because of assaults or abuse affects our capacity to serve the public during the pandemic.

“No-one deserves to be abused at work, but we will not tolerate our staff – who are only ever there to help people – being abused and left unable to work, at a time when the public really needs them.

“We will always support our staff and work with the police to secure convictions and the strongest penalties wherever appropriate.”