Attitudes towards protecting Emergency Medical Services (EMS) staff from violence and aggression: a survey of adults in Wales

Objective: To explore the Welsh public’s views of violence and aggression (V&A) directed at EMS (emergency medical services) staff, awareness of policy changes and the reach of media campaigns. Design/setting/participants: Survey involving non-probabilistic purposive sampling of 1010 Wales adults (aged 18+) from a matched panel, representative of the population, derived from a UK YouGov panel of >360 000 adults registered. Results: Most (62.5%) participants had heard of V&A directed towards EMS staff; 81.1% had heard about it through the media. 21.0% of participants had witnessed V&A towards EMS staff; younger participants were more likely to have witnessed an incident 18.7% via a social setting and 81.1% through the media. 90.4% disagreed with the statement that V&A towards EMS staff can be acceptable in some cases, and 53.3% were not aware of related media campaigns. Participants thought intoxication with alcohol (92.4%), drugs (90.5%) and altered mental status following illness and/or injury (84.3%) would likely contribute to V&A towards EMS staff. 22.0% of participants were aware of the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act. Although I thought the act was unlikely to deter perpetrators who were intoxicated with drugs (75.2%), alcohol (75.2%), with altered mental status following illness and/or injury (75.6%) or other member of the public (42.4%). Younger participants were more likely to think the act would deter those intoxicated with drugs, alcohol, with altered mental status following illness and/or injury and other members of the public. Those with social grades of C2/D/E thought the act was likely to deter those intoxicated with drugs. Conclusion: There is good public awareness of V&A directed towards EMS staff in Wales who find it unacceptable. Our survey found limited awareness and perceived effectiveness of related legislation and media campaigns in the last 2 years. Participants thought legislation would not deter those intoxicated with drugs, alcohol or altered mental status. Therefore, we recommend further research to understand and develop evidence-based interventions for these groups of people. We also recommend amplifying messages targeted towards young people and through social settings where V&A may be encountered.