Two emergency ambulance staff have been seriously injured after they were assaulted as they tried to treat a patient.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) crew were called to outside 150 High Street, Coleshill at about 6.10 pm on Sunday to reports of a middle-aged man who was unconscious after falling.
The medics arrived on the scene, found the male and started to treat him for his injuries.
As the emergency ambulance crew treated the male, he lashed out at them both before trying to smash one of the windows on the emergency ambulance.
The crew requested assistance via their control room, and police response team officers were sent to the scene, along with a paramedic operation manager.
Despite being assaulted by the male, the medics continued to treat him after the police arrived to help control the violent male. He was then taken to Good Hope Hospital by the crew.
As part of an on-going trial by West Midlands Ambulance Service, and in response to an increase in the number of assaults on emergency ambulance staff, the crew were wearing bodyworn cameras. The ambulance was also fitted with CCTV.
While at the hospital, the male became verbally abusive and aggressive towards hospital staff, and the police were once again called.
One crew member suffered a dislocated thumb; the other had chest and arm injuries. Both had to receive treatment in A&E before being discharged.
They are likely to be off work for some time.
Assistant Ambulance Chief Officer, Andrew Proctor, said:
“Our staff come to work to help people in their hour of need.
“It is never acceptable for our staff to be either verbally or physically abused.
“We have now lost two members of staff from frontline operations while they recover, which will have an inevitable impact on our ability to respond to patients in a timely manner.
“We will be pushing for the courts to take the toughest possible action in this and every such case so that people know that it is not acceptable.
“We know from the feedback we receive from the public that they find such actions abhorrent, so we hope the courts will reflect the strength of that feeling.”
This latest incident comes at a time when more and more emergency services personnel are being assaulted.
There have been calls for firefighters also to be issued with bodyworn cameras following a dramatic increase in the number of assaults on fire crews.
The Local Government Association (LGA) recently called for harsher sentences after what the described as a “sickening” rise in attacks on Fire & Rescue crews.
Latest government figures show that attacks on firefighters in England have surged by an astonishing 66 per cent in four years.
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