999 bosses react to Swindon emergency services assault case

Speaking after the appearance in court of a homeless drunk who assaulted one paramedic and left the crew so concerned they locked themselves in their cab, both the chief executive of South Western Ambulance Service and the trust’s union chairman condemned attacks.

Ken Wenman, chief executive of South Western Ambulance Service, said: “Like all our emergency services colleagues, our crews and control staff work in extremely difficult circumstances and are often under threat of attack or abuse.

“This is totally unacceptable and we will take whatever action is necessary to ensure that our staff are protected and those responsible for such attacks are prosecuted.”

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Jo Fowles, South Western Ambulance and Allied Health UNISON branch chairman, added: “Paramedics and their emergency services colleagues work incredibly hard to keep the public safe, they don’t go to work to get assaulted.

“Just last year UNISON published research, which found that attacks on all types of NHS staff had risen sharply. More needs to be done to protect staff at work.”

Figures released last year showed that over the previous 12 months, ambulance trust staff across the south west had been on the receiving end of 1,049 assaults – up 97 attacks on the previous year.

New laws have increased the penalties for those convicted of assaulting ambulance workers, NHS staff, police officers and firefighters, with a maximum jail sentence of 12 months.

Yet the longer sentences do not make it any easier to be on receiving end.

Last year, then student paramedic Ben Murley told of the moment he and a crewmate were spat on by a patient: “All of sudden, as we were putting the monitoring equipment he spat at us in the eyes. We had no idea why."

“Your immediate thought is that you don’t want to carry on dealing with this person. But in our role you have to. Because of the nature of our job, we have to carry on treating them regardless.”