A paramedic has been slashed in the face after being flagged down by a member of the public.

The ambulance crew member was attacked with what is believed to be a Stanley knife, local police special constables said.

After police attended, they were reportedly also assaulted when trying to deal with the incident in the Middlesbrough area on Friday evening.

In a Facebook post, Cleveland Police Special Constabulary wrote: ‘Two of our officers working our medicar last night were attending an incident where an ambulance staff member reported being assaulted whilst assisting a member of the public.

‘The medical staff had been slashed across the face with what was believed to be a Stanley blade.

‘Our officers conducted an area search and thanks to a call from a member of the public, were swiftly able to locate and arrest a female.

‘Unfortunately, whilst dealing with the incident both of our volunteer officers were assaulted.

‘One was slapped across the face and the other kicked repeatedly in the chest.

‘In total four separate emergency service workers received unnecessary injuries as they went around their business trying to help the public.’

A spokesperson for North East Ambulance Service said: ‘In the early hours of yesterday morning, one of our ambulance crews was flagged down in the Middlesbrough area. 

‘In the course of checking out the person who stopped them, they were assaulted and sustained facial injuries. The crew member was treated by the scene but did not require conveyance to hospital.’

Clinical services manager at NEAS, Darren Green said of the incident: ‘We saw an increasing and very worrying trend of violence towards ambulance crews and other healthcare professionals when the last lockdown restrictions eased.  

‘We know people want to enjoy all the things they’ve missed out on but we want to keep our staff safe from harm so that they can be there for people in emergencies. 

‘Our staff have been under an enormous amount of pressure and strain over the last year – they are understandably tired and we are concerned for the longer-term implications of this pandemic on their mental health.  

‘For our staff to have been put under pressure from this type of behaviour is a real concern.   

‘We launched a #morethanauniform campaign to raise awareness of these concerns and we will continue to highlight and report incidents in which our staff are put at risk or brought harm.’

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