'I'm sick of feeble excuses': Ambulance chief calls for paramedic abusers to be locked up

Body cameras are being rolled out to all front-line workers with West Midlands Ambulance Service next year in a bid to secure more convictions and to protect staff.

And the service’s chief executive Anthony Marsh said he has written to the Attorney General to demand tougher sentences for those who abuse paramedics and ambulance staff.

Speaking at the trust’s annual meeting in Brierley Hill on Monday, he said: “If you attack my staff, you are going to prison. I am sick of hearing about ambulance staff being attacked and I am sick of hearing feeble excuses.

"If you go to court with written or spoken evidence then that’s OK, but it is a bit cold.

“If you go with a video which has captured the entire incident then there are no feeble excuses, you are caught bang to rights.”

He added: “I have previously written to the Attorney General asking for tougher sentences for those who attack emergency service workers and I will continue to bang the drum for this.”

Mr Marsh said ambulances currently have cameras inside and out to capture incidents, but the roll-out of body-worn cameras will happen next year, following a trial in one area later this year.

He also added that last Thursday was the third busiest 24 hours for the service in its 13-year history.

“It has now been confirmed that it was the hottest day ever in the UK and I want to pay tribute to my staff,” he said.

“Not only was it hot but it was also our third busiest day in history for calls and incidents attended.

“I want to thank everyone for their hard work. Extreme weather is becoming one of the more major things impacting us as a service and we are working hard dealing with that. I also want to pay tribute to our call handlers. Last year, more than 10,000 calls took more than two minutes for us to answer.

“This year, we are at the end of July and there have been 1,600. They are a brilliant team and I want to recognise their work.

“As a service we are all working together and pulling in the same direction.

“We have had a great year, we are making progress. But there will be no complacency creeping in.

“We want to keep improving.”