How does your job impact your health?

A subscriber to JPP emailed me this summer wanting to cancel her subscription after having to remove herself from the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register—she said she had recognised that remaining in the paramedic profession was detrimental to her mental health. She wrote of her disappointment to be cancelling her subscription, and of her grief to be leaving the profession she loves.

The news seems rampant with stories of verbal and physical abuse towards ambulance clinicians—and I've spoken with paramedics who believe that this is just a part of their job. I understand that in cases of mental illness, some cases are somewhat difficult to prevent but abuse should never just be tolerated as a part of the job. Employers have a responsibility to protect their staff, and governments have a responsibility to enact legislation that will protect our emergency workers. I am encouraged that the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill, which will be covered in further detail in our October issue, has passed through the Houses of Commons and Lords, and is now awaiting Royal Assent to become an Act of Parliament.