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The Welsh Ambulance Service has launched an appeal ahead of Christmas asking the public to treat its crews with respect.
The move comes after new data has revealed how more than 3,000 assaults were committed on Welsh emergency workers in the 12 months to June 2024, representing a year-on-year increase of nine per cent.
The assaults included kicking, slapping, spitting, biting, head-butting and verbal abuse, and ranged from common assault to serious premediated attacks involving grievous bodily harm. Nine incidents involved a weapon.
“Ambulance crews are there to help people, but they can’t fight for someone’s life if they’re fighting for their own.
“In our control room, meanwhile, the verbal abuse of call handlers could potentially be delaying help for the patient.
“The run-up to Christmas means more people are out enjoying the revelry, and with alcohol consumption comes an increase in assaults, both physical and verbal.
“Our ask is simple – emergency workers want to help you, so please treat them with respect and work with us, not against us.”
Jason Killens, Chief Executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service.
‘Verbally and physically abusive’
Emergency ambulance practitioners Ian Jones and Gareth Casey were assaulted by a patient in Burry Port in June, before she urinated in the back of their ambulance.
The Sketty-based colleagues were treating a female who was reported to have fallen in the street and hit her head, before she became verbally and physically abusive.
Ian said: “She’d already struck out at Gareth during our initial assessment, but got so aggressive on the way to hospital that we had to stop the ambulance and physically restrain her, for her safety and ours.
“It was the first and only time I’ve pressed the ‘panic strip’ in the ambulance so that everything could be recorded on CCTV.
“We called the police, who arrived within minutes, but in the meantime, she threatened to urinate in the back of the ambulance.
“Unfortunately, she made good on that threat.”
Last month, Michelle Richards, of Railway Terrace, Llanelli, was sentenced to three months in prison suspended for 18 months having previously pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating of an emergency worker and to criminal damage.
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