One ambulance worker is assaulted nearly every day, figures show

A Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) worker is verbally or physically assaulted almost every day, according to figures.

The service released figures showing 346 staff experienced abuse in 2023/24 – an increase of 11% on the previous year.

Incidents have involved spitting, punching and threatening staff with bottles and weapons, with the number of verbal assaults up 30% since last year.

Call handler Declan Cowan, who is based at SAS’s West Ambulance Control Centre in Cardonald, Glasgow, recalled one incident where an angry caller threatened to come to his place of work which left him particularly upset.

“It was a really busy day and there was a queue of calls all day due to the pressure on the service,” he said.

“I received a call from a patient who I triaged through our system and the advice was to have them contact their GP or NHS 24.

“The caller wasn’t happy that he was not getting an ambulance and proceeded to shout at me over the phone.

“He said if he died or anything happened to him that I would be to blame, he called me horrible and derogatory names that attacked both my character and identity and he also threatened that he would find out where I was based and come find me.

“It was a really scary and upsetting call.”

SAS chief executive Michael Dickson said: “Our staff are having to deal with incidents nearly every single day and no form of abuse will be tolerated.

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

“We also strongly condemn the abuse our hardworking call handlers face on a daily basis.

“We understand calling 999 can be a stressful time during emergencies, but abusing our staff is totally unacceptable.

“Physical and verbal assaults can have a significant and lasting impact on our people, sometimes even leading them to leave the ambulance service.

“We will continue to work with Police Scotland to take action against perpetrators, which includes those who abuse our 999 staff.”