AMBULANCE staff have been ‘unacceptably’ assaulted more than 40 times in Basingstoke and Deane in the past four years, The Gazette can reveal.

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request submitted by The Gazette shows since 2013, 41 assaults on South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) staff have been recorded in the RG21, RG22, RG23, RG24, RG25 and RG26 postcodes.

However, The Gazette understands the true figure could be higher as these numbers are just incidents which staff have reported.

Of these figures, 19 were physical attacks while 22 were of a verbal nature.

A SCAS spokesman said: “Any verbal or physical assault on staff who are carrying out their duties to protect life and provide care and treatment to patients is unacceptable.”

The SCAS spokesman added: “South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) takes all steps, so far as is reasonably practicable, to protect its staff from violence and aggression. In addition to carrying out a risk assessment on preventing violence and aggression to staff the Trust provides conflict resolution training to frontline operational staff.

“As part of our risk management arrangements, the Trust has an electronic incident reporting system and encourages staff to report all incidents including any violence or aggression incidents.

“The Trust will also place markers or alerts on the addresses of patients or individuals who have been aggressive or violent towards our staff.”

The flag indicates whether an address should not be entered by SCAS on their own, if a staff member has previously been assaulted or threatened at the address and if a SCAS member of staff should only enter the property with a police presence.

The spokesman added: “When approaching a scene staff carry out a dynamic risk assessment and if they think that the scene is unsafe they can stand down and request further support from other Trust staff and/or the police.

Operational staff are provided with radios and can press a panic alarm if they are being subject to threats or assaulted.

“If Trust staff are assaulted then we will work with the police to try and obtain a sanction against the perpetrator.”

A campaign is currently ongoing to introduce a ‘Protect Our Protectors’ Bill’ to better prevent and further punish those who attack emergency services staff.