Ambulance crews list more than 2,500 addresses as trouble spots
The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has identified more than 2,500 addresses as places where their crews have faced threatening or violent behaviour.
Ambulance staff are advised they can request police support when arriving at one of the 2,557 homes that have been “red-flagged” as potential trouble spots.
The figure was obtained by the Scottish Conservatives who tabled a Freedom of Information request asking how many homes were crew were unable to enter unless accompanied by a police officer.
The SAS provided a breakdown of the red-flagged addresses by post code area and later explained that they represented places where staff had experienced threatening or violent behaviour.
When attending an incident at one of the red flagged
addresses crews can request “additional support” if requried.
The Scottish Conservative’s public health spokeswoman Annie Wells said the numbers exposed the challenges hardworking ambulance staff have to put up with on a daily basis.
She said: “No paramedic should ever fear for their own wellbeing, especially when they are dedicating their lives to helping others.”
She also called for tougher action from courts on those who assault or intimidate emergency workers, adding: “It’s quite shocking to see there are more than 2500 addresses where they can’t safely go about their work.
The new figures can be broken down to cities and regions by postcode area, but the SAS declined to give more specific details on the grounds that doing so would compromise of patient confidentiality.
There are currently 820 “red-flagged” addresses in and around the G (Glasgow) post code area and 469 in the EH (Lothians) post code area.
That’s followed by 216 in Lanarkshire’s ML postcode zone, and 191 in Ayrshire.
There are 169 addresses in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire on the list and 150 in the KY (Kirkcaldy) postcode area in Fife.
A further 129 were in the FK (Falkirk) area and 132 in the PA (Paisley) postcode areas.