The Dartford Messenger
KENT, England — They’re more used to tending injuries than nursing them, but an alarming report shows more mobile medics are left battered and bruised by those they’re trying to help.
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SECAmb) reported 113 attacks on staff between April 2009 and March 2010.
Reports of abuse led to 37 convictions since April last year - including two in Dartford.
In September a drunken patient was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay compensation after attacking a paramedic with a knife at a home in Dartford.
Another intoxicated patient was cautioned for common assault after verbally abusing then spitting in the face of an ambulance crew member in town earlier this year.
The Trust says it supports a number of campaigns to reduce violence against NHS staff including the Your Choice of Treatment campaign.
Posters are carried on a number of frontline vehicles and deliver a clear message that people who assault NHS staff face prosecution.
SECAmb chief executive Paul Sutton said: “Ambulance staff deserve to be able to serve their local communities in safety.”
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