PATIENTS’ lives could have been endangered after paramedics were attacked 40 times in Oxfordshire in the past four years, a union has warned.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) Unison branch secretary Gavin Bashford said assaults on staff, which have been condemned by the service and by MPs, could lead to two ambulances being taken off the road at the same time.

Mr Bashford also said the assaults were putting people off joining SCAS at a time when the organisation is already short of staff.

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Figures obtained by the Oxford Mail using the Freedom of Information Act also revealed 45 addresses in the county have been given a marker warning ambulance staff they should consider attending only if accompanied by police or social workers due to previous incidents.

Mr Bashford warned this could also put seriously ill people at risk.

He said: “Any assault would take the ambulance off the road for a while whilst welfare checks are done.

“Also the team leader, who will be either in an ambulance or a fast response car, has to go and check the paramedic for welfare. It is absolutely a matter of life and death for a patient further down the line.

“We struggle to meet our performance targets at the moment and if you have a paramedic attacked you lose that crew and team leader and suddenly you have two ambulances off the road. The outcome can be poor for other patients.”

Last month the Oxford Mail revealed SCAS was struggling to fill 300 paramedic vacancies as well as 150 other frontline staff and had resorted to recruiting in Poland and Australia as well as the UK.

The ambulance service said this staff shortage was the main reason for paramedics failing to reach patients with life threatening illnesses within eight minutes in more than a quarter of cases in June, July and August.

Mr Bashford said: “Assaults are shocking for us and also for our patients.

“It is added stress to what is already a very stressful job.

“We have a big recruitment issue and this is an added problem.”

Of the 40 assaults 22 were reported to the police and paramedics suffered attacks including being punched, scratched, spat on and verbally abused.

The addresses with “red flags” are located across the county, with 23 in Oxford, six in Banbury, three in Abingdon and three in Bicester, as well as a number of other towns and villages.

SCAS head of risk and security John Dunn said: “Any incidents of assaults towards staff are completely unacceptable.

“SCAS takes any assault, whether physical or verbal, towards staff very seriously.

“We encourage staff to report all assaults that arise from their work using our incident reporting system.

“We also encourage staff to report the incident to the police.

“To assist staff dealing with incidents they are given conflict resolution training to help them deal with potentially difficult or challenging scenarios.”

The figures on assaults came days after mental health charity Mind marked National Stress Awareness day on November 4 by emphasising the pressure emergency service staff are under and the impact it can have on their mental health.

Oxfordshire Mind spokeswoman Beth McAllister said: “We know that emergency service personnel are more likely to experience a mental health problem than the general workforce due to the nature of the work, and they are also less likely to seek support.

“People in the emergency services suffering any fear for their personal safety can be a stressful and traumatic experience.

“At Oxfordshire Mind, we’d encourage anyone who has been through such an experience to seek support and to look after your mental wellbeing.”