Ambulance staff were assaulted 84 times as they tried to treat injured patients over the past year, figures published today have revealed.

Oskan Edwardson, director of operations for the East of England Ambulance Service, said: “We operate a zero tolerance policy on violence against our staff and encourage them to report every instance of aggression they encounter in the line of duty.

“We also train them to undertake a risk assessment of every situation they attend and, where necessary, support them in taking appropriate action against anyone who has attacked them, either verbally or physically.”

He added: “Clearly the ability of our staff to work safely and unhindered is paramount, and we consider any attack to be completely unacceptable.”

The trust’s local counter fraud service specialist works with the NHS Counter Fraud Security Management Service to monitor instances of violence and follow them up with a view to preventing similar situations from happening in the future.

Mr Edwardson said he hoped the number of assaults would drop in the future.

He said: “The vast majority of people are supportive of the ambulance service, but unfortunately there are still those few people who obstruct our staff as they try to go about their work helping people around the region.

“We would ask those individuals to think about the consequences of their actions when they assault an ambulance crew - if it takes a member of staff out of work and means fewer ambulances on the road, it could lead to an innocent person losing their life.”