Safety matters: an important issue

While patient safety and treatment are the foremost concerns for practising paramedics, personal safety is often overlooked. Due to the nature of work undertaken by paramedics, the likelihood that they will encounter hostile and dangerous situations is high. The prevalence of binge drinking, which has become an increasing part of UK culture, has meant that many paramedics working night shifts are faced with inebriated and potentially aggressive patients. This combined with psychotic, confused or panicked patients, emphasises that this is very much a real problem that needs to be taken into consideration.

Only recently has it emerged that staff of the London Ambulance Service (LAS) have been advised not to visit more than 200 homes without police assistance. The information comes following a freedom of information request, which revealed that of 390 households on LAS’ Location Alert Register, 226 fell under its most serious classifications (Savage, 2013). The alert register is divided into four categories, with the 226 homes falling under categories one and two, where physical violence, threats with a weapon or ‘aggravated verbal abuse’ lead to the need for a police call-out. As in any other occupation, paramedics should not be expected to work when placed under abuse or in hazardous environments. It therefore begs the question as to the level of risk paramedics are taking when dealing with dangerous patients, as well as a number of ethical concerns regarding when a paramedic should or should not treat a patient.