Drive to protect 999 crews from assaults

Oldham Ambulance Station Supervisor Lorraine Dunlop has been threatened numerous times her work.

AN OLDHAM paramedic is supporting a new campaign to protect ambulance crews after her own life was threatened.

Lorraine Dunlop (47), based at Oldham Ambulance station, in Crofton Street, has worked on the front line for the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) for 18 years.

During her career, Mrs Dunlop, a clinical practice supervisor, said she has been verbally abused, threatened and attacked.

She said: “I’ve been hit by a chair while trying to treat someone.

“I’ve even had my life threatened in the back of an ambulance by someone who said they had a gun and was going to shoot me.

“Verbal abuse is more prominent and incidents are normally drink-related.

“It used to be isolated incidents but now it seems to be more and more prevalent.

“We just want to be able to do our job and go home safe at the end of a shift.”

There were 234 reported assaults on (NWAS) employees between April, 2007 and March, 2008.

Of those, 67 were reported to the police and of those, 41 were punished.

During the past seven months, there were 44 reported incidents of physical assault on ambulance crews and 109 incidents of verbal abuse.

Last month, two ambulance crew members locked themselves in a downstairs room after being threatened after responding to an incident in Vale Drive, Coldhurst.

The NWAS’s new Stop Abuse Campaign, run in collaboration with the region’s five police forces and the Pubwatch scheme, is thought to be the biggest anti-violence initiative of its kind.

It aims to offer support to ambulance staff and give them confidence to report incidents.

Licensed Pubwatch premises will also issue banning orders on individuals who are violent towards staff.

Mrs Dunlop, from Bury, welcomed the campaign and said it would help staff feel supported and able to speak out.

She said: “There have been times when I’ve not reported an incident.

“You think it’s a one off and you feel scared about being identified in court.

“This campaign will tell people violence and abuse won’t be tolerated or ignored, and there is support for staff.”

A total of £69million a year is lost because of violence throughout the NHS.

James Bernard, local security management specialist for NWAS, said: “54 out of 1000 workers in Greater Manchester will be physically assaulted this year trying to do their job.

“We will not tolerate this mindless and devastating abuse of ambulance staff.

“In most cases, it is the consumption of alcohol in the first place that leads to injury or illness that the ambulance crews originally attend.”