EMERGENCY services across the south west are campaigning to raise awareness of and work to end abuse of their staff.

In the run up to Easter – a time when they regularly expect an increase in calls – the emergency services across the south west are using the #Unacceptable campaign to highlight the rise in violence and abuse that their employees are facing.

The services report serious injury, verbal abuse, spitting and biting, and even sexual assault as some forms of attack against their staff.

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Davies on behalf of Devon & Cornwall Police and Dorset Police said: “It’s not just frontline paramedic teams and police officers who face violence, 999 Control hub staff are finding that they are increasingly subjected to abuse when taking emergency calls.

“In some cases emergency call handlers have had death threats to them and their family and these are innocent staff who are trying to get emergency care to patients.

“Our officers and staff, along with other emergency services colleagues, demonstrate commitment, courage and dedication on a daily basis.

“They signed up to helping and protecting the public, not coming into work each day with the risk of being assaulted.

“The impact this can have on them, their colleagues and their families can have lasting effects long after physical scars have healed.

“Together, the emergency services want to ensure our personnel can deliver the best possible service to our communities; but in order to do this we need injury-free and healthy work forces.

“We will not tolerate assaults on our emergency services and will seek to bring criminal proceedings against offenders.

“I welcome the new law to double the maximum sentence from six months to 12 months for assaulting an emergency services worker.”

South Western Ambulance Service Trust has reported a rise in abuse against their staff in recent years.

The 2017/18 period saw 1,049 incidents of abuse of staff, an increase from 952 the previous year, only 52 of which were reported to the police.

165 of these were physical assaults.

Only one jail sentence was given for assaults against ambulance staff in the south west across the 2016/17 and 2017/18 periods.