PARAMEDICS have pledged to get on with the job and save lives despite a rise in the number of physical assaults they have been subjected to.

New figures revealed that during 2015/16 there were 129 assaults on medical staff at South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) – up from 111 the previous year.

One paramedic, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were safety procedures in place by the trust to try and keep them as safe as possible.

They added: "We have to still do our jobs and do them to the best of our ability."

Trust spokesman, David Gallagher, said any verbal or physical assault is 'unacceptable.'

He said: "We have an electronic incident reporting system and we encourage staff to report all incidents including any violence or aggression.

"The trust will also place markers or alerts on the addresses of patients who have been aggressive or violent towards our staff.

"A flag is added to certain addresses for a number of reasons, including where staff should not enter as a solo responder, where staff have previously suffered verbal or physical assault and where staff should only respond with a police presence at the scene."

In the same period there were 315 assaults on staff working for Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, although this was about 50 per cent lower than in 2014/15 and all but two assaults were related to medical conditions which meant the patient did not know what they were doing was wrong.

Oxford Health spokesman, Chris Kearney, said the trust was committed to ensuring staff worked in a safe environment without 'fear of physical violence and assault.'

He said: "Sadly there are still instances where our staff are subjected to physical violence, but extensive work has been undertaken by the trust to help reduce these, which led to an almost 50 per cent year-on-year reduction between 2014/15 and 2015/16.

"As well as this, all our clinical staff receive extensive training to provide skills to manage potentially volatile situations that threaten to escalate into physical violence.

"Within our mental health settings there are systems in place that allow staff to alert their team members at any time they feel threatened.

"We feel that we are doing some good work here at the trust to tackle this issue and while any assaults against our staff are completely unacceptable, it’s important to point out that the numbers of assaults we experienced are low compared to other similar sized trusts."

In the county's largest health trust, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) there were 215 attacks on staff – up from 203 the previous year.

OUH manages the John Radcliffe Hospital, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Churchill Hospital in Oxford and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

OUH, Kaelum Neville, said the trust had no hesitation in reporting issues to the police where appropriate.

He said: "The trust recognises that aggression from patients is nearly always related to a medical condition or a patient's distress and so under these circumstances we would be unlikely to take any further action.

"When staff are assaulted by patients our occupational health team work with them and their managers to ensure they are given the appropriate support and advice they need.

"In line with our reporting policy, events events such as these are reported and monitored in order to see if any lessons can be learned in order to prevent similar occurrences."