SCOTTISH ambulance staff have faced death threats, been attacked with knives and bottles, and been physically assaulted more than 100 times in the past year, new figures show.
Data from the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) published on Friday showed that 328 incidents of abuse had been recorded from October 2022 to October 2023.
The number represents an increase of 51 incidents on the previous year.
Of the 328 incidents of abuse reported, 140 were ambulance staff being either punched, kicked, or spat on. A further 21 were medics being threatened with either a knife or a bottle.
There were also 124 incidents of verbal abuse towards staff, the SAS said.
The ambulance service further said that the majority of the assaults or abuse was in the West of Scotland region, with 176 this year.
In the East of Scotland, 123 incidents of physical or verbal abuse were reported, and in the North there were 27.
The most common time for assaults was between 9 and 10pm, while the time with the least was between 5 and 6am. The most common month was August.
The SAS said it responded to more than 1.5 million call-outs each year.
Michael Dickson, the SAS chief executive, said: “We strongly condemn violence against our staff. They have the right to carry out their work helping patients and saving lives without fear of assault or abuse.
“Our staff are having to deal with incidents nearly every single day and that is totally unacceptable.
“No form of abuse will be tolerated and we will continue to work with Police Scotland to take action against perpetrators."
The SAS, which employs more than 5000 people, said it has a range of measures in place to help protect staff, including peer support and training in dynamic risk assessment.
