A mob of 30 people attacked an ambulance crew as they were answering a 999 call in Bristol.

One of the two women paramedics had to be treated in hospital after she was assaulted while attempting to treat a patient who had suffered a heart attack.

The ambulance had its back windows smashed during the incident in Ashley Road, St Paul's.

Its crew, who have not been named, were confronted by a crowd of about 30 "drunk and intimidating" people when they arrived to help another female paramedic attend an incident at Tasties cafe on Saturday morning.

Details of the incident emerged as Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) announced that new vehicles answering calls in the city have been fitted with CCTV cameras to record evidence of attacks on staff.

A solo female paramedic had arrived in Ashley Road just after 8am on Saturday to treat a 30-year-old who had suffered a cardiac arrest.

When the ambulance crew turned up to help and take the patient to hospital the jeering mob smashed the vehicle's back windows.

After they arrived at the Bristol Royal Infirmary with their patient, one of the ambulance crew also had to be treated for minor injuries

All three paramedics were left shaken by the incident and were sent home without completing their shifts.

A colleague of the women said: "A large malevolent crowd was interfering with the ambulance crew, jostling, pushing and preventing them from doing their job."

Earlier this month, the Bristol Evening Post reported there had been 23 physical assaults on ambulance staff in the Bristol area over the year to the end of March.

Among the incidents reported was one in which a brick was thrown at a female paramedic, who had to take refuge in an ambulance while the windows were smashed. In another case, a male crew member had his arm twisted and was hit in the face.

GWAS unveiled its new ambulances yesterday.

The CCTV systems will be used to record footage from inside the vehicle, which could be used as evidence in court cases, although they will not be able to film incidents in which staff are assaulted outside their ambulance.

GWAS presses charges against anyone who assaults paramedics and emergency care assistants.

Clinical team leader at Bristol ambulance station and Unison representative Chris Hewett said: "We hope that we will never need to use CCTV footage but it is reassuring to us that firstly, it will act as a deterrent and secondly, it will be used to hold people to account for their actions.

"Ambulance crews have a right to go about their duty without facing violence and aggression.

"We accept that sometimes things go wrong and I believe that 23 assaults is 23 too many, but we think it is likely that the numbers are far higher than those in the figures released."

Mr Hewett said the number of reported results could be lower than the real figure because of the reporting system that was in place during the last financial year.

The ambulance service already has nine of its new vehicles in operation across Gloucestershire and the former Avon area, including two at the main Bristol station, two in Keynsham and one operating from Almondsbury. The number will increase to 24 across GWAS by early next year.

Mr Hewett has been out in one of the new five-tonne vehicles.

He said: "They are about half a foot longer than our previous vehicles and a little bit taller but I was able to go

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TWO hero paramedics battled a freezing, fast-flowing River Ogmore to reach a woman who had fallen from her horse.

With no helicopters available to airlift Porthcawl rider Melanie Tucker from the beach at Ogmore-by-Sea, Lindsey Grimstead and David Cartwright picked up as much kit as they could carry and waded across.

“We were up to our waists in water. The tide was on its way out and there was a very strong current. We could easily have been swept away,” said Mr Grimstead.

“But we didn’t know how long she had been there, how badly injured she was or how long it would take a helicopter to reach her, so we decided we had to get to her.”

The pair, based at Maesteg ambulance station, have worked together for nine years. They reached their 41-year-old patient after a hard 15-minute trek.

And despite being soaking wet, cold and covered in sand, Mr Grimstead, 38, and his partner got to work immediately, giving their patient morphine and gas and air to ease the pain of her broken leg. Mr Cartwright, 42, even gave up his jacket to keep her warm.

The pair were called to Ogmore-by-Sea at 2pm last Thursday after a couple from the Rhondda found Mrs Tucker lying on a beach after falling from her horse.

“When we arrived, people were waving to us from across the other side of the Ogmore estuary. We thought it would be a struggle to get over there, so we immediately radioed for a helicopter, but we were told neither the air ambulance or RAF Sea King helicopter was available,” said Mr Grimstead.

“We walked down to the estuary. There was no footbridge or anything like that. So we grabbed as much equipment as we could carry – I had a kit bag and a drugs bag and David carried the gas cylinder – and with the kits on our backs we waded through the water.”

Mr Cartwright, a keen fisherman who lives in Brynmenyn, used his knowledge of the perilous currents to stop himself and his partner being carried out to sea.

“I fish quite a lot down there and I knew we had to turn into the current and face upstream,” he said.

Mr Grimstead, from Neath, said: “It was tricky but we got to the other side and then we had a bit of a yomp to where the lady was lying. We were able to give her some pain relief, splint the leg and keep her warm.”

He said despite her injury Mrs Tucker was grateful and appreciative. The pair stayed by her side until the air ambulance became available about half an hour later and arrived to take the casualty to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for treatment to a suspected broken femur.

“Then we had to wade back across the estuary to get back to the ambulance,” said Mr Grimstead.

“There were people watching on the other side and there was a bit of a round of applause when we crossed back. It’s not every day you get that.”

But the pair do not consider themselves heroes.

“We changed our uniforms then carried on with our shift. It was just another day in the ambulance service,” said Mr Cartwright.

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CHARGING patients for missing an NHS appointment could improve access to vital health services, experts have claimed.

The Welsh Assembly Government is considering allowing dentists to charge patients who do not turn up.

And it is understood that Health Minister Edwina Hart has considered a “cost system” for patients who waste GP appointments and dial 999 for an ambulance they do not need.

The proposal to introduce a “discretionary charge” for missed dental appointments was suggested by a task and finish group, which recently reviewed the current dental contract.

The idea has received universal support and, if implemented, it could eventually be extended to other areas of the NHS, including hospital outpatient appointments.

Stuart Geddes, director of the British Dental Association in Wales, said his own practice lost up to three weeks’ worth of appointments in one year.

“Charging is the only sanction that would be in any way effective,” he said.

Missed appointments cost the NHS across the UK some £675m a year but also make it harder for genuine patients to seek treatment.

Notices in the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, reveal that patients failed to attend more than 21,000 outpatient appointments last year at a cost of £2m to Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust.

Jonathan Davies, policy and public affairs manager for the Welsh NHS Confederation, said: “Reasons for non-attendance may vary and are not always the patient’s fault.

“However, simply forgetting to turn up for, or failing to cancel an appointment for reasons of apathy is increasingly unacceptable.

“The idea of introducing a discretionary charge in these cases may well help improve the current situation.

“At a time when the NHS is facing serious financial challenges it is really important that patients take responsibility and try to keep their NHS appointments.”

And Carol Lamyman-Jones, director of the Board of Community Health Councils in Wales, said: “Too often CHCs hear from members of the public who complain about being unable to secure a convenient GP appointment.

“We are also acutely aware of the vast numbers who fail to keep their appointments and for those who blatantly abuse the system, particularly on an ongoing basis.

“In those instances I believe a concessionary fee should be paid by those patients. Similarly for those who clearly misuse the ambulance service. The latter is a vital facility that is desperately short of funding in Wales.

“Perhaps the introduction of a charge for inappropriate calls to 999 is the way forward.” But GPs believe that charging for missed appointments could stop poorer patients visiting surgeries and would threaten the doctor-patient relationship.

Dr David Bailey, chairman of the Welsh GP Committee, said: “The danger is that the most vulnerable patients might be prevented from seeking help when badly needed and those who could afford it might be encouraged to use the system more.

“How would GPs charge? It is simply not practicable. People wouldn’t pay, and then what? Would GPs employ bailiffs to collect televisions instead of fines? The bureaucracy would be horrendous.”

A spokeswoman for the Welsh Ambulance Service said charging was a matter for the Assembly Government.

An Assembly Government spokesman said: “The report which the Health Minister Edwina Hart commissioned recommended, among other things, that a discretionary charge should be introduced when patients missed their dental appointments.

“This proposal was endorsed by dentists when it was issued for consultation over the summer.

“Mrs Hart has asked the group to provide further advice to her on the consultation responses which supported the possibility of charging for missed appointments.

“Based on that advice, she will consider the way forward on this issue. Currently, the Minister is not considering this option for GP or hospital appointments.”

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