Ambulance UK April 2022

NEWSLINE
AMBULANCE UK - APRIL
LAS
London Ambulance
staff make
plea clear: We
should be able to
#WorkWithoutFear
London Ambulance Service
is playing a vital part in a new
national campaign to highlight
the profound impact of physical
and verbal abuse on ambulance
staff and volunteers, as figures
show that cases of violence
against staff and volunteers
reached a record high last year.
As part of the national
#WorkWithoutFear campaign,
London Ambulance staff and
volunteers were invited to meet
with Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles
to share their personal experiences
of abuse while on duty and their
suggestions for what could be
done differently, helping to create
and shape a brand new action
plan to bring down the number of
incidents and secure the toughest
possible convictions for those who
commit them.
In a roundtable conversation
held recently, just days
before the official launch of
#WorkWithoutFear, staff gathered
with Daniel to explain the impact
that abusive patients and their
families can have. Speaking
bravely and openly, these staff
members (who are all being
offered support and are still
serving with the Service) detailed
instances of being physically
attacked, verbally abused,
threatened with weapons, and
sexually assaulted. During the
meeting, a 999 call handler shared
the homophobic and threatening
verbal abuse he had recently
received, while one paramedic
told the group about the time
she was held at knifepoint for 25
minutes and feared for her life
while performing cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (also known as CPR,
this is the life-saving medical
procedure of chest compressions
and rescue breaths performed
when someone’s heart has
stopped pumping blood around
the body). Daniel also heard from
a paramedic who was attacked by
a drunk patient and was left with a
broken bone in his neck and, as a
result, needed to take two months
off work.
Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles
said: “Our staff and volunteers
come to work to help Londoners
in their time of need. They work
to save lives, help the injured and
make sure people get the medical
care they need quickly. They
should not, in any circumstance,
experience physical or verbal
abuse. But sadly, that is not the
reality our teams face. There are a
minority of patients (and members
of the public) who behave hatefully
or violently towards our staff and
volunteers, and that situation has
to change.
“We‘ve already put extra
measures in place – such as
rolling out body worn cameras to
our ambulance crews so they can
record abusive incidents and use
footage as evidence in court, and
working with the police to increase
convictions for hate crimes
(such as people using racist or
homophobic language when
speaking to our call handlers). We
have also created two new roles,
Violence Reduction Officers, who
provide dedicated support for staff
and volunteers to take their case
to court, providing a link between
the victim and the Metropolitan
Police Service, and making sure
they are supported through the
process, every step of the way.
“But, we recognise that we have
to do more – the roundtable
conversation I had with staff has
given us a really strong foundation
to build on, and I – along with the
Board of the London Ambulance
Service – am committed to
making real change.”
Sadly, latest figures show that
cases of physical assaults against
London Ambulance Staff have
risen by almost 40% since the
pandemic began. During 2018-19
staff and volunteers experienced
468 physical assaults, rising
to 650 in 2020-21 – that’s an
increase of 38%. Over the same
period, verbal assaults almost
doubled, rising from 695 in 2018-
19 to 1,025 in 2020-21.
Director of Quality Jaqui Lindridge
(who joined the Service in 2000
and has 19 years of experience as
a paramedic) said: “Our medics
and call handlers face stressful
and challenging situations every
single day, and yet, they remain
calm and steadfastly professional.
But that doesn’t mean the threats
and insults that they hear, or the
physical intimidation or harm
they experience, does not have
a deep and lasting impact. It’s
heart breaking, and we will do
everything in our power to stop
this.
“Our staff and volunteers have
the right to #WorkWithoutFear,
and so as we work hard to build
a new action plan, I would like to
take this opportunity to publicly
thank our staff and volunteers,
and ambulance service colleagues
across the country for all that they
do. We remain incredibly grateful
for their hard work in challenging
circumstances, and in awe of their
bravery and resilience.”
GWAAC
Local air ambulance
is called to more
children and
teenagers in 2021
than ever before
Great Western Air Ambulance
Charity (GWAAC) has
announced that 2021 was
its second busiest year on
record. The Critical Care Team
received a total of 1,964 callouts
to incidents across the
region which includes Bath
and North East Somerset,
Bristol, South Gloucestershire,
Gloucestershire, North
Somerset, and parts of
Wiltshire.
The most significant increase in
tasked incidents was to children
and teenagers in urgent need.
In 2021, 14% of GWAAC’s total
call-outs were to children and
teenagers. That’s almost two in
every ten of GWAAC’s callouts
to South Gloucestershire
and B&NES, and more than
one in ten call-outs to Bristol,
Gloucestershire, and North
Somerset. Dispatches to children
and teenagers doubled from 7%
in the preceding years.
Alfie needed GWAAC when he
was three years old. His Mum,
Becky, said: “If it wasn’t for this
fabulous team, Alfie would not be
with us today.”
The air ambulance and critical
care service, which is charity
funded, provides emergency
medical care to the most seriously
ill or injured in the region.
GWAAC’s crew of Critical Care
Doctors, Advanced Practitioners
and Specialist Paramedics
bring the expertise of a hospital
emergency department to the
scene of an incident. These
skills can make the difference
between life and death. From
roadside blood transfusions to
performing emergency surgery to
anaesthesia, the crew is specially
trained to deliver pre-hospital
emergency care to both children
and adults.
The increasing demand for
GWAAC’s service means the
charity needs to raise over
£4 million a year to remain
operational, yet it receives no
day-to-day funding from the
Government or National Lottery,
relying on the generosity and
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For more news visit: www.ambulanceukonline.com