Jail sentence demand for paramedic attackers

A jail sentence should be handed out to everyone who attacks ambulance staff, it has been claimed.

Body cameras are being rolled out to all frontline staff with West Midlands Ambulance Service next year in a bid to secure more convictions and to protect staff.

Speaking at the trust’s annual meeting in Brierley Hill on Monday, he said: “If you attack my staff, you are going to prison.

“I am sick of hearing about ambulance staff being attacked and I am sick of hearing feeble excuses.

“If you go to court with written or spoken evidence then that’s OK, but it is a bit cold.

“If you go with a video which has captured the entire incident then there are no feeble excuses, you are caught bang to rights.”

He added: “I have previously written to the Attorney General asking for tougher sentences for those who attack emergency services workers and I will continue to bang the drum for this.”

Mr Marsh said ambulances currently have cameras inside and out to capture incidents, but the roll out of body worn cameras will happen next year, following a trial in one area later this year.

He also added that last Thursday was the third busiest 24 hours for the service in its 13 year history.

“Not only was it hot but it was also our third busiest day in history for calls and incidents attended.

“I want to thank everyone for their hard work. Extreme weather is becoming one of the more major things impacting us as a service and we are working hard dealing with that.

“I also want to pay tribute to our call handlers. Last year, more than 10,000 calls took more than two minutes for us to answer.

“This year, we are at the end of July and there have been 1,600. They are a brilliant team and I want to recognise their work.

“As a service we are all working together and pulling in the same direction.

“We have had a great year, we are making progress. But there will be no complacency creeping in.

“We want to keep improving.”