Welsh Ambulance Service volunteer sexually assaulted by patient | UK News

A volunteer paramedic has recalled how she was sexually assaulted by a patient who grabbed and tried to kiss her after responding to a 999 emergency call.

Community first responder Emily Hilton was assessing the man who had fallen on a busy main road in Cardiff last March.

The 24-year-old said the experience made her seriously question whether she wanted to continue in the role and completely knocked her confidence.

Research suggests there were 3,000 assaults against emergency workers in Wales between June 2023 and June 2024, with the Welsh Ambulance Service warning its workers were “often confronted with violence and aggression from the public”.

Community first responders attend 999 calls in their community and administer first aid before an ambulance arrives.

They are trained to administer oxygen therapy and CPR, as well as the use of a defibrillator.

Emily, who has waived her right to anonymity, was the first to arrive at the scene on Cardiff’s Newport Road, following 999 calls reporting that a man had fallen from his wheelchair.

“The patient was clear that he didn’t want medical attention, but he did want help getting home, so I called our control room to agree next steps,” she said.

“After I spoke with our control and clinical teams, he became verbally abusive and threatened to ‘knock my lights out’.”

She asked the man if he wanted her to leave, but he said he was in pain.

“I offered to assess him, and that’s when he grabbed the top of my neck and pulled me in, forehead-to-forehead and tried to kiss me on the lips,” Emily said.

“I was completely taken aback that he’d grabbed me in the first place, but he also had a vape in his hand which for a split second, I thought was a knife.”

She pulled away, asking him not to do that, and the ambulance arrived soon after.

Hilton told the crew what had happened, and they called the police.

“In my three years of volunteering, no-one’s ever done anything like that to me before,” said Emily.

Craig Burgess, 48, from Cardiff, was arrested and charged with sexual assault.

He was found guilty in May and was sentenced to a community order at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court earlier this month.

He was also fined £60, ordered to pay £100 compensation and will remain on the sex offenders register for five years.

There have been numerous efforts to tackle abuse against emergency workers.

In 2018, the maximum custodial sentence under the Assault on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act which could be applied by the magistrates’ court was doubled from six months to 12 months in prison.

In 2022, the maximum custodial sentence which could be applied by the crown court was increased to two years.

The emergency services in Wales has run the With Us, Not Against Us campaign since 2021 in a bid to reduce assaults.

Emily said the assault “completely knocked my confidence”.

“You’ll get patients who are frustrated because they’ve been waiting a long time for help, but this was the first time someone was physically violent towards me,” she said.

“It made me wonder if I actually wanted to continue volunteering,” she added.

She said it was hard coming to terms with what had happened, and she felt anxiety build up during the time she had off afterwards.

“Any assault on an emergency worker is unacceptable, but what makes Emily’s experience particularly shocking is that she was volunteering her time, unpaid, to support her community,” said Emma Wood, chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service.

James Paget from South Wales Police added the psychological and physical effects of an assault of this nature could be long-lasting.

“No-one should have to go to work fearing they will be treated in this way when they are working hard – even volunteering in their own time – to keep others safe.

“Craig Burgess’ actions that night were abhorrent,” he said.