Reflection on Abuse and Assult from the Public on the Ambulance Service in the UK - Essay Example

This paper will reflect on the sad plight of paramedics in the United Kingdom, more particularly in the North West side. According to statistics available, from April 2007 to March 2008, there have been 244 assaults across the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), and this figure does not include yet the verbal abuse and threatening behavior hurled against their staff (North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, 2007). Slater reveals that everyday ambulance staff has to deal with physical and verbal abuse when attending emergency calls at Mersey and Cheshire (2002).

Figures released by the Department of Health in 2006 show that within the Ambulance Services nationally, for every 23 ambulance staff, there was one assault or 1,333 incidents of violence and aggression (North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, 2007). This information is quite alarming and needs to be addressed seriously by the government and the communities that they serve. To give a clearer picture of how a paramedics’ life is threatened while on the job, several incidents of assault will be presented.

Slater talks of an incident about a female paramedic who was punched in the face by a very aggressive patient (2002). Although the ambulance was able to move away, the paramedic and a fellow crew member were both injured and badly shaken by the incident. Another incident reported in the newspaper about a paramedic assault was committed against a female paramedic in Caernarfon (Hickey, 2010). She was trying to revive a drunken girl who collapsed when suddenly the girl’s other girl friends started to drag her off their drunken friend and attacked her.

Luckily, the police arrived to control the incident. In Merseyside, a man died because the paramedics were delayed by a gang who placed a motorcycle along the path of the ambulance (BBC News, 2007). According to the police who investigated the incident, when the driver of the ambulance got out to remove the motorcycle, three men went to him and shouted and threatened to assault him. This delay caused the tragic death of Norman Bell, who collapsed at the Council Avenue Bowling Club. Had the ambulance not been held up by the gang, the paramedics could have saved Bell’s life.

Sexual assault is another form of abuse that some paramedics are subjected to. In July 2010, a female paramedic was sexually assaulted by a teenager while at the back of an ambulance in Glasgow (BBC, 2011). The teenager was being brought to a hospital for head injury and while inside the ambulance sexually attacked the paramedic and gave her repeated punches. The paramedic suffered severe trauma from fear of being raped and killed. The incidents described above are just some instances of abuses and assaults suffered by paramedics in the ambulance service.

One is deeply saddened by these developments because a work of a paramedic is not an easy job. The job becomes even harder when their security and safety turns out to be an issue. It is disheartening that while the paramedics are trying to do their duties, there are insane people out there who fail to respect these self-less individuals. These acts of violence against people who offer emergency services are simply unacceptable. If there is one thing that citizens should give these paramedics, it should be one of gratitude for their noble and gallant acts of service to their fellowmen.

These atrocious and brutal acts against ambulance service personnel should not be tolerated and must be condemned. Offenders must be