Assaults on paramedics from 2021 to May 2024 (FOI)

​​​​Request

From 2021 to the end of May 20024, how many

A

Paramedics were assaulted on duty?

B

Paramedics suffered serious injuries after being assaulted on duty?

C

Paramedics suffered minor injuries after being assaulted on duty?

D

Paramedics required sick leave after being assaulted on duty?

Response

The number of Safety Event Records which include physical assaults on staff is set out in the attached table.

Table.pdf​

A to C

The job roles of those involved in a safety event is not a reporting category in the safety event IT system (regardless of whether the event involves assault on staff or not).  Therefore, all safety events involving an assault on staff are included in the attached table, and stated numbers could include paramedics, technicians, emergency care assistants and ambulance care assistants. 

When assaults on staff are reported by the States of Jersey Ambulance Service, one safety event record is created per event regardless of the number of staff involved.  Therefore, the data in the attached table represents the number of safety events which include assault on staff rather than the number of staff involved in any assault. 

Safety events can be reported under the following categories of harm; no physical harm, low physical harm, moderate physical harm, severe physical harm and fatal. These are presented in the attached table rather than the categories of injury proposed by the requestor to avoid any manipulation and misinterpretation of the data. 

Due to the small numbers involved, the release of exact numbers of staff may lead to the release of personal identifiable information which would breach the privacy of the individual(s) concerned. The Authority has determined that to disclose the exact number would likely breach the privacy of individuals and therefore, Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) 2011 Law has been applied.

D

The requested information is not available in a central record. Whilst details of sick leave will be documented within individual staff HR records, this is held in a separate IT system to safety event information and is personal information as defined under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.  Therefore, discerning the requested information would require significant manual interrogation and cross-referencing of information and likely necessitate disclosure control to avoid identification of individuals, given the low numbers set out in the attached table.  A Scheduled Public Authority is not obliged to create new datasets or manipulate existing data to address Freedom of Information requests.  Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.​