By Jack McKeown

EMERGENCY WORKERS in Tayside yesterday welcomed new legislation aimed at tackling people who assault or obstruct them physically or verbally.

The Emergency Workers’ Bill, published yesterday by the Scottish Executive, makes it a specific offence to assault, obstruct or hinder an emergency worker or anyone helping an emergency worker in an emergency.

Offenders will face a maximum of nine months’ imprisonment, a fine of £5000, or both, and more serious assaults will continue to be prosecuted under the common law.

As well as tougher sentences, the Bill will include more staff training and increased use of CCTV.

Workers covered by the Bill include police, fire, ambulance and coastguard services, lifeboat crews, prison officers, medical practitioners, nurses and midwives.

Minister for finance and public services Andy Kerr said attacks on emergency service workers are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Yesterday, the ambulance service, hospital staff, police and the fire brigade in Tayside welcomed the tougher legislation.

Accident and emergency consultant at Ninewells Hospital Barry Klaassen said doctors and nurses live with the threat of assault every day, and that most incidents go unreported.

“Any figures you get will be just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Nurses and doctors are very busy and we have more important things to do just going about our jobs than report people.

“We have a good relationship with the police in Dundee and the local sheriffs, who take a very dim view of people who obstruct or abuse A&E staff. They usually take a harsh line on these people.

“It is a common occurrence though and often it’s when we’re at our most busy and stretched that individuals abuse staff when they’re trying to do their job.

“People can get abusive if there are problems transferring people home or long waits for various reasons. The most severely injured or seriously ill people are treated as a priority, and often the walking wounded don’t appreciate this.

“People think that their cut thumb is an emergency, when we’re actually dealing with life-threatening injuries.

“By and large though, the public are very understanding.”

Due to the way figures are collated, NHS Tayside were unable to supply statistics for assaults, however a spokesman said they were a “significant problem.”

Sam Kennedy, general manager of the Scottish Ambulance Service Tayside, said the extra support provided by the Bill would reassure his staff.

“I’ve noticed a big increase in the number of instances of assault on our staff. We’re getting our fair share of the aggressive stuff.

“I don’t have figures locally, but nationally we’re seeing about 10 assaults a month on ambulance staff. It’s a problem but it doesn’t stop our workers from doing their job.

“Ambulance workers are at more risk when drink or drugs involved. The city centre on a Saturday night is a higher risk area, but our staff can face danger in the most innocent-looking leafy suburb because if people are in pain and suffering they are unpredictable.

“We do already have management of aggression training for our staff, which does not give them a black belt in karate but teaches them to manage risk through things like pacifying people through use of body language.

“This new Bill will be another string in our bow though, and we will not hesitate to prosecute anybody who assaults our staff.”

The head of personnel at Tayside Fire Brigade, Ian Robertson, said the Bill would be used by firefighters as a last resort.

“It’s something we welcome, but we would prefer to form links with the community to try to prevent assaults in the first place.

“Our community safety officers are trying to form links with those most likely to attack firefighters, which tends to be those in deprived areas.

“We want to let them know we’re on their side.

“We’re also trying to appear less intimidating to the public and one of the ways we’re doing this is by changing our uniform. We’ve stopped wearing ties to try and appear less official.

“We had five attacks on our staff over the last year, but have not been recording figures for long. HMI figures for Scotland show 182 attacks on firefighters for the year 2002/03, mostly people throwing missiles.”

A spokesman for Tayside Police said, “We support any legislation that provides protection for emergency workers, who all too often face serious verbal and physical abuse in the process of carrying out their duties.

“It has long been an offence for someone to assault or obstruct a police officer in the course of their duty, under the terms of the Police Scotland Act.

“We welcome any legislation that covers all people who work in emergency situations. They provide a vital public service and should be allowed to go about their work without threat or fear.”