Ambulance staff suffered almost 330 incidents of abuse in last year, data shows

More than 300 ambulance staff have been physically or verbally abused in the last year, statistics show.

Data from the Scottish Ambulance Service reveals 328 staff suffered abuse, attacks with weapons and death threats between October 2022 and the same month of this year, with incidents occurring almost every day.

Incidents of abuse increased 51 on the previous year, and most commonly took place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Twenty-one staff were threatened with a knife or bottle, while 140 were either punched, kicked or spat on, the latest figures show.

The union Unison, which represents hundreds of health workers in Scotland, released figures last month showing there has been a 31% increase in incidents of violence against health workers overall in the last year.

The Scottish Ambulance Service figures show the majority of incidents of abuse took place in the west of Scotland, with 176, while there were 123 in the east of the country.

In the north, 27 incidents of abuse were recorded towards ambulance staff.

Michael Dickson, chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “We strongly condemn violence against our staff.

“They have the right to carry out their work helping patients and saving lives without fear of assault or abuse.

“Our staff are having to deal with incidents nearly every single day, and that is totally unacceptable.

“No form of abuse will be tolerated and we will continue to work with Police Scotland to take action against perpetrators.”