NW ambulance staff sufferattack 27 times in 2012/13

Health Minister Edwin Poots says 13 paramedics or drivers were physically assaulted and two of these had been assaulted with a weapon. A further 14 staff were verbally assaulted in the course of their duty.

Almost incredibly, the 27 assaults on people providing vital health care to citizens in the Western Trust geographical area represented the lowest level of violence against staff in Northern Ireland.

In Belfast there were 106 assaults; in the Northern area, 41 assaults; in the South Eastern area, 55 assaults; and in the Southern area there were 45 assaults.

Mr Poots said the Northern Ireland Ambulance Trust (NIAS) recorded the data based on the base station of the crews reporting the incidents and not the actual location of the incidents themselves. DUP MLA Maurice Morrow asked the Minister to reveal how many attacks were reported against NIAS staff or paramedics in the last twelve months.

The shocking level of abuse on health care workers has previously been reported in the Sentinel.

Back in 2011 the Sentinel revealed how nurses, doctors and social workers were physically attacked 780 times in the Western Trust in 2009/10 alone. Western Trust figures showed there were over 1,277 cases of verbal and physical abuse against healthcare staff in the area in 2009/10.

Such behaviour prompted Health Minister Michael McGimpsey to signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the PSNI and the PPS to ensure the protection of health service staff.