Ambulance Crews To Get Body-Worn Cameras After Rise In Assaults

East Midlands Ambulance Service has welcomed the announcement all of its crews will be given body-worn cameras, following an increase in assaults.

Staff reported 1,048 incidents last year – a rise of over 300 compared with three years ago.

The cameras are being provided by the NHS to all ten ambulance trusts in the country, with footage made available to police to assist with prosecutions.

Richard Henderson, Chief Executive at East Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “Violence and aggression towards ambulance staff has always been, and will always be, absolutely unacceptable. Our colleagues come to work to help people in their hour of need, not to be abused or assaulted.

“We are pleased to see the funding of body-worn cameras by NHS England and look forward to rolling them out to frontline colleagues across our region.

“We hope these cameras will help to protect our colleagues when responding to patients by acting as a deterrent and de-escalating situations, but in the disappointing event that a staff member experiences violence or aggression, we will have footage of the incident to assist in securing a successful prosecution of the offender.”