Fulham paramedic Catherine Maynard describes being assaulted twice in two days. Image: London Ambulance Service

The London Ambulance Service is concerned about an increase in assaults on their staff when treating patients.

In 2014 there were 415 physical attacks on staff, an increase of nearly five per cent over the previous year.

There were also 632 verbal assaults on ambulance crews last year.

At the weekend a man in Hackney was arrested for urinating from a balcony on a paramedic and police officer when they were attending to a patient.

In West London Fulham based paramedic Catherine Maynard has described how in January she was assaulted twice in two days by two different patients she was called to treat.

Catherine Maynard says she and her colleague were spat and sworn at when trying to help 50 year old James Macky on the Harrow Road near Wembley Friday 16th January.

Macky from Quainton Street continued to assault them before wedging himself underneath the ambulance.

Three days later he was jailed for seven months at Hendon Magistrates after pleading guilty to five charges of assault and criminal damage.

Within 24 hours of the first assault Catherine and her colleague were attacked again when on a call near the Cromwell Hospital in Kensington.

Catherine said:

We were in the back of the ambulance and the man tried to push me out the doors onto the A4. He threw our equipment across the floor and headbutted my male colleague in the chest. Thankfully we managed to subdue him before police arrived. I’d only been assaulted once in five years and then I’m assaulted twice in one weekend. It’s frustrating that we are sympathetic to so many people, and then we’re treated like this.

Director of Operations, Jason Killens, said:

Attacking my ambulance crews as they go about saving lives in the capital will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Medics are already under a great deal of pressure. It is completely unacceptable that they should also face the risk of assault when they go to assist members of the public.