As an ambulance technician for many years, I have learnt to cope with the many difficult situations and challenges thrown at you in the line of duty.

But a night shift in the centre of town can be tough at the best of times. And I remember this particular night shift as though it happened yesterday.

In March last year my colleague and I were sent on a call to help a man who was drunk and doubly incontinent in the town centre. Patients can present challenges like this, but we are here to help those in need because that’s our duty of care. I dialled in to check with our control centre whether this man was a known patient and whether he posed a known risk. I heard nothing back to sound alarm bells, or even raise slight concern.

When my junior colleague and I went to provide him with assistance, he spat at us. He became verbally abusive. After calming him and transporting him to the ambulance, that’s when it happened. He waited until he had me alone. And then he touched me.

I’ll never forget the look in his eyes. He seized my leg, he grabbed my right breast. Tears come to my eyes now just reliving the shock – and the violation I felt.

It later transpired that this man was a notorious sexual predator and had breached a criminal behaviour order four times. The police and the local hospital had instructions on how to deal with him and ensure he was never left alone with a woman.

But for all the “zero tolerance” stickers displayed in my ambulance, I was put into a dangerous situation that should have been flagged. Only it wasn’t, for the simple reason that there is no formal communication between the services – they just don’t talk to each other. And they aren’t required to.

To this day, services do not work together properly to flag danger to workers. It’s clear something more needs to be done to better protect emergency workers. That’s why, together with my trade union, GMB, we are backing a private members’ bill in parliament, sponsored by Labour MP Chris Bryant, to make assaults against all emergency services staff an aggravated offence.

The bill also calls for a duty of care for employers to ensure that they act to protect frontline emergency workers properly. At this moment in time, there is still no legal protection for paramedics, doctors or nurses. My case shows it is badly needed.

In my own local ambulance trust, there have been more than 1,500 reports of physical and verbal abuse against medics over the past three years. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. These incidents are happening nationwide with alarming frequency.

That night, the man who assaulted me engineered a situation to ensure he had me alone – and I realise now it was a clever game played by someone who had done all this before. The trauma was made worse by the knowledge that it could have been prevented if services spoke to each other and exercised a duty of care. Even after what I went through, steps just weren’t taken to ensure it could not happen again. I felt so let down and alone and I took several months off work.

My perpetrator was eventually sentenced to 39 months in prison – 18 months of that sentence were for the sexual assault on me. But he is due for release before Christmas and I feel sick at the prospect of seeing him again.

I also fear that another frontline worker could be forced to endure what I have unless the law changes. I’m determined that we do something to stop that from happening – and properly protect our protectors.



This series aims to give a voice to the staff behind the public services that are hit by mounting cuts and rising demand, and so often denigrated by the press, politicians and public. If you would like to write an article for the series, contact kirstie.brewer@theguardian.com



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