Aylesbury paramedic attacked by man he tried to help as abuse cases soar

Student paramedic Al Goffey shared his story with ITV Meridian's Kara Digby

Footage, shared exclusively with ITV News Meridian, reveals the shocking abuse ambulance staff can face across the Thames Valley.Student paramedic Al Goffey and his colleague were driving through Aylesbury when they were flagged down by a man who needed help.

He ended up being attacked in broad daylight and was forced to defend himself as the patient became agitated.

He says the trauma of the attack will stay with him forever.

"We had our backs to the vehicle and turned around and unfortunately he had followed us all the way up the road and proceeded to punch me in the face - even though I put my hands up and asked him not to," said Al Goffey."Adrenaline took over at that point - fight or flight kicked in and my reaction was to defend myself which involved throwing him on the floor - then tried to control him on the floor and realised I couldn't and then backed away. I was scared at the time - just because I wasn't expecting it."I ended up with a cut underneath my right eye - in the corner all the way right across the bottom and then bruising all across the right side of my face."

He never thought something like this would happen to him."Not in this job. This is a job where you expect to go and see people, you help them. We're not aggressive people, you try and stay calm, you try and help people."

The latest figures show there's been an increase of almost 60% in abuse and abusive behaviour against South Central Ambulance Service staff over the past five years.Between 2019 and May this year, there were 3,483 incidents of abuse, bullying or assaults on staff - 258 of those were physical assaults which needed treatment.There has been a large rise in the number of physical attacks, up 43% in 2023 compared to 2019. Abuse and abusive behaviour has seen a 59% increase.

The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives says that alcohol is the most prominent factor in assaults against ambulance staff, followed by drugs and people in mental health crisis.Paramedics are being taught how to protect themselves and how to try and calm situations with conflict resolution training.

"Maybe someone has a medical condition that's causing them to act irrationally or it could just be violence aimed at the staff," said Paul Jefferies, Assistant Director of Operations."We've provided body worn cameras for our staff to wear - also the handheld radio they carry has a button on it that can be activated to alert our emergency operation centres that a member of staff needs support."

"We also flag addresses, so if the address is known to be a site where violence and/or aggression has previously happened, we can potentially send the police to support our staff depending on the previous incident."

Staff are also referred to counselling, along with follow-up talks to support their mental health.Al Goffey's experience which happened in 2022 has made him wary."I find myself subconsciously taking a step further back away from them. Just because of the fact that I've been there once, I don't really want to go through it again.""We see horrendous things constantly. The job before yours might have been a death, it could have been an injured child, it could have been anything, so just be kind to us."His attacker was sentenced to 18 months for assault, serving 9 months before being released on parole.The ambulance service warns it will not tolerate violence against staff who do so much to help others.

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