Safety of Emergency Workers

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship again, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for drawing this issue to our attention. I also congratulate her on the way she represents her constituents in this Chamber and in the main Chamber. They are fortunate to have her. When they listen to her contributions, they will know how important that is.

For emergency responders, being subject to physical violence and verbal abuse has become part of their daily routine. From 2024-25, there were 22,500 incidents of violence and abuse directed at ambulance workers across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a rise of 15% on 2023-24. Any level of abuse is of course unacceptable, but we must recognise that the number of incidents is dramatically on the rise, having reached the highest on record over those years. Female ambulance workers are most likely to be targeted by the public. Senior ambulance officials believe that the true number of incidents is even higher than reported.

Other frontline forces, such as the police, regularly face abuse, with attacks on police happening an average of 100 times a day in the United Kingdom. Our officers now report that they are used to being punched and kicked but are growing increasingly concerned as abuse becomes more extreme and frequent. Hon. Members can get an idea from dashcam videos and police programmes showing motorway police on chases; they are attacked far too often.

Firefighters are no exception. Firefighters from the Northern Ireland fire and rescue service have been attacked on a number of occasions, as indeed have the police, by people high on drugs or drink, or with their own particular problems. Data from the London Fire Brigade shows that on average there were two incidents of physical or verbal abuse every week from 2019 to 2023. Such behaviour can never, ever be accepted as an occupational hazard.

These incidents have consequences beyond the emergency workers themselves, delaying responses and putting public safety at risk. Estimates suggest that more than 1,000 patients a day in England suffer potential harm from ambulance handover delays—these things are sometimes unseen, but they are none the less important.

I will give an example from last week in Northern Ireland. On Saturday, a serious assault on a paramedic happened at Altnagelvin hospital. I read about it in the paper on, I think, Monday morning. The lady sustained injuries to the back of her head, neck, face and hands during the attack. She was beaten to the ground and then attacked when she was on the ground. This kind of behaviour towards our emergency workers, who carry out their duties with such compassion when helping those in need, is utterly unacceptable.

[Helen Maguire (Epsom and Ewell) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for securing this important debate. The Rapid Relief Team does vital work by supporting frontline staff to ensure they can work safely during demanding shifts. For example, Surrey fire and rescue service worked all night to contain a fire in Grundon waste recycling centre in Leatherhead, and the volunteers mobilised to provide the crew with encouragement and warm food, which is particularly important when they face abuse and attacks. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is important that we support such organisations?

[Jim Shannon]

Yes; we are thankful to the group that the hon. Lady mentions, as well as to the general public. We should never forget what they do.

I call on the Minister and Government to work to ensure long-term mental health support is available to our emergency workers. We need to be aware that the guys sometimes carry the trauma and the post-traumatic stress beyond what happens from the physical impact. The psychological effects of these horrific incidents last long after they have taken place.

The uniform worn by our emergency workers is not a shield against physical or verbal abuse. Behind every uniform that I or anybody sees is a real person, with real feelings and emotions. The trauma caused by these incidents cannot simply be taken off with the uniform at the end of the shift. When someone’s uniform is off, and they are sitting on the sofa, they still have to deal with what happened to them during the day. We must stop treating such abuse as an inevitable part of the job and recognise its lasting impact on those who work to save so many lives.