Ambulance crews to wear body cameras amid surge of attacks

The service [WMAS] has bought 1,288 cameras for each of its frontline ambulance crew members to be used in gathering evidence for court cases and prosecutions.

WMAS recorded 1,162 physical attacks on its staff during the past 12 months – an increase of 60 per cent in five years.

There were a further 2,181 cases of verbal abuse last year, a figure which has more than doubled since 2016.

Anthony Marsh, chief executive of the trust that runs WMAS, said: "The safety of my staff is of paramount importance to me. If they are injured, they are not available to respond to patients.

"The cameras will allow staff to record incidents where they feel at risk with any recordings being able to be given in evidence should an actual assault occur.

"Hopefully, they will never have to be used, but if they are, the evidence will hopefully increase the rate of successful prosecutions and subsequent sentencing.

"All too often my staff feel let down by the judicial system and this important step will help to redress that situation."

The cameras have cost almost £1 million, with the funding provided by NHS England to the trust organisation that runs WMAS.

WMAS ran a pilot using 30 cameras in the autumn of 2019 which fed into the decision by NHS England to roll the cameras out across the country.

All ambulance staff will be able to wear the cameras while they are on shift.

The cameras will not record all of the time but instead will be switched on by members of staff if patients or the public became aggressive or abusive.

The devices will display red lights to show when they are recording.

The initiative has been welcomed by paramedic Neil Vann, who was knocked unconscious by a patient he was trying to help. The attacker, a man, was jailed for six months.

Mr Vann said: "The cameras are there to protect us in case things turn nasty.

"I hope I never have to switch it on, but given what happened to me, it is nice to know that I have the chance to record what happened so that a court can see.

"The vast majority of people probably won’t know they are even there – they won’t be switched on in 99.9 per cent of occasions.

"But they are there just in case. I feel sure that had I had a camera when I was assaulted, my assailant might have thought twice about attacking me."

Figures, provided by WMAS, show that there were 724 physical assaults on ambulance staff between April 2016 and March 2017.

That rose to 1,162 in the 12 month period between April 2020 and March of this year.

Meanwhile, there were 1,050 verbal assaults on staff in 2016/17, rising by 107.7 per cent to 2,181 in 2020/21.