London paramedics to wear bodycams after hundreds of assaults by patients

London Ambulance Service hopes they will deter attacks and improve safety
“Significant risk”: a patient being attended to by paramedics
Lucy Young
Ross Lydall @RossLydall2 December 2019

London Ambulance medics are to get body-worn cameras in a bid to reduce the hundreds of patient assaults they suffer each year.

A 12-month trial launching in the New Year which will see crews in areas notorious for physical and verbal assaults wearing cameras on their uniforms.

LAS frontline staff report about 500 physical attacks and 800 threats and verbal assaults a year. Many other incidents go unreported.

A paramedic almost lost sight in an eye after he was violently attacked this summer. About 25-30 people every year are convicted of assaulting LAS staff.

LAS paramedic Caitlin Fiddler was verbally abused while treating a head injury 

LAS paramedic Caitlin Fiddler, 22, had a patient spit in her face and tell her to “f*** off” when she was trying to treat his head injury.

Paramedic Thomas Martin, 29, was punched and spat at when he tried to restrain a patient high on drugs. In another incident, he was bitten, punched and kicked by a driver involved in a car crash.

Paramedic Thomas Martin, 29, has been punched, bitten, kicked and spat at while working

LAS hopes the cameras will reduce the threat of assault from “significant” to “moderate”. A trial by North East Ambulance Service found cameras had an immediate deterrent effect in preventing patients becoming aggressive.

A spokesman said: “It’s gone phenomenally well. The responses from our staff, and from patients, have been overwhelmingly positive.

“We thought that having cameras would enable us to collect evidence of our staff being abused or threatened. We have not collected that evidence at all — the sheer fact of having a camera there has led to a behaviour change from patients.”

LAS will assess whether the cameras compromise patient confidentiality and whether they are able to capture evidence of use in prosecutions. Hundreds of days are lost to sickness because staff are unable to work after an assault.

LAS chief executive Garrett Emmerson said: “Whilst the vast majority of our patients and members of the public treat our staff with the upmost respect, sadly a small minority do not. Last year we had over 1,200 cases of reported physical or verbal abuse towards staff

“The wellbeing and safety of our workforce is paramount and anything we can do to further support crews out on the road has got to be a good thing.”

The LAS trial is being funded by £175,000 from the Department of Health. Earlier this year it announced an £8 million initiative enabling all ambulance services in England to trial body-worn cameras.

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