Ambulance staff suffer daily abuse
Alan Jacob and Ed Hill work long shifts at all hours of the day and night, with no two shifts the same. But in recent years there seems to have been a recurring theme. A recent staff report from the NHS has revealed the amount of abuse and harassment, both verbal and physical, that NHS staff put up with on a daily basis. Alan who joined the emergency services 25 years ago, the last four spent in Bath, and Ed who has worked at Bath Ambulance Station for the past two years, are just two of many victims to experience aggression towards them from patients they are trying to help. In just two years Ed has been spat at and bitten whilst treating patients who have called 999. He has suffered verbal abuse and threatening behaviour from patients who are often under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Ed said: “It’s accepted today that during your shift it is likely someone will be verbally aggressive towards you, but this doesn’t make it right.” Similarly Alan has been punched, kicked and shoved during his shifts. He said: “It’s becoming more regular. It’s shocking and can be intimidating.” Despite having training in how to talk to patients to calm them down, the paramedics often have to carry out a dynamic risk assessments when they think there may be a physical risk. Ed said: “It’s not something you can train or prepare for. We are getting used to this and that’s sad. “You just need to keep your cool and remove yourself both physically and emotionally. You need to remember that they are not attacking you as a person but attacking the uniform and the system. This can be hard to do when they are sending you personal threats about finding you and finding your family but the service are incredibly supportive.” With the statistics of reported assaults in the NHS staff report very high, it’s worrying that both Alan and Ed admit to not reporting assaults, indicating that incidents happen more regularly than is being reported. Ed said: “It’s a common thing to be verbally abused.” Alan agrees: “We start to get used to the verbal aggression. We shouldn’t be verbally abused when we are doing our work. We have to be careful not to tolerate it.” Despite this both Alan and Ed love the line of work they are in. Ed said: “We’re obviously busy but the patients are great.” Alan added: “In the grand scheme of things we meet so many patients that are so grateful for our help. The thank you letters far outweigh the abuse.” The campaign #Unacceptable has now been launched across emergency services in the South West to raise awareness about these issues. Alan said: “The public are shocked that we have to put out this type of campaign.” Ed said: “It’s a big push for the court and legislation as well as raising awareness that this does happen and that people aren’t aware that we are human.”