Ambulance staff have to endure a lot to do the job they love. Long hours, shift work, high-pressure situations, and very difficult callouts. However, many ambulance workers are also experiencing a range of sexually inappropriate behaviour from the public, their colleagues and managers, including harassment, bullying and assault.
• In 2023, almost a third of ambulance staff reported experiencing sexual harassment while at work
• A report in 2024 found “the NHS is failing to protect trainee paramedics from widespread sexual harassment”
• Female paramedics are much more likely to experience sexual harassment and assault than their male colleagues
TASC is a national charity dedicated to providing independent and confidential support to help the UK’s ambulance family when they’re struggling with their mental, physical and financial wellbeing. Many ambulance workers come to TASC because they don’t feel comfortable approaching their employer.
Karl Demian, CEO of TASC, explains what the charity is seeing:
“Around 1 in every 7 people we help has been affected by a sexual safety issue in some way, with around 70% being women. The issues we see range from harassment or sexually inappropriate behaviour from a colleague that’s been dismissed as banter to sexual coercion from a manager or even sexual assault from a patient.”
Karl continues:
“Much of the existing external data focuses on paramedics and staff out on the road, but we see people from all walks of life being impacted by sexual safety issues, including staff in the dispatch centre and support offices and even student paramedics. 1 in 10 students that come to us are for reasons related to assault or bullying from colleagues.”
Today, TASC is proud to announce the launch of the Ambulance Staff Sexual Safety Support Service, their new confidential listening ear phoneline. The service is available to all UK ambulance workers and student paramedics who have been impacted by a sexual safety issue, regardless of the perpetrator. The service aims to provide a safe space and a compassionate ear for staff and students to go to when need to talk. Key features of the service include:
• An independent and confidential listening ear phoneline staffed by trained TASC employees who have extensive experience supporting ambulance workers.
• A dedicated webpage full of information and resources to support people who have been impacted by a sexual safety issue and guidance on how they can raise the issue with their employer if they wish to.
The Ambulance Staff Sexual Safety Support Service phoneline is available Monday – Friday, 10am – 3pm at: 0333 038 6573. Alternatively visit www.theasc.org.uk/SafeSpace.
Karl Demian said:
“At TASC, our services and new developments are constantly being led by our clients’ experiences. Sexual safety is a deep-seated cultural issue in the ambulance sector, and in wider society at large. While we can’t fix the issue, we can provide a safe place for staff to go to talk, decompress and be empowered to take back control if they wish to. We can also use our learning from this service to work with our partners and influence policy within the ambulance industry to implement effective and long-lasting change.”
Tracy Nicholls, Chair of TASC and Chief Executive of the College of Paramedics, said:
“The UK’s ambulance sector continues to face serious concerns about unacceptable sexualised behaviour which affects many staff members, particularly women, but not exclusively. In my substantive role at the College of Paramedics, we have engaged with hundreds of our paramedic and learner members about their experiences and I fully welcome this much-needed service to provide vital support during a particularly vulnerable time.
As TASC’s Chair, I continue to be amazed at the incredible work the team are doing to support our ambulance family, and I encourage everyone to support and raise awareness of this new resource for all ambulance staff and student paramedics.”
The development and launch of this new service has been supported by the Association of the Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), who have made it a key priority to work with all NHS ambulance services to reduce misogyny and create meaningful cultural change to ensure all employees, volunteers and learners are treated with respect and are able to undertake their roles safely.
Anna Parry, Managing Director of AACE said:
“Sexual safety is a key priority for AACE and its members and we are very pleased to welcome this excellent new TASC resource which will help ensure that the ambulance service becomes a place of safety for all. Nationally AACE is working with all NHS ambulance services to address outdated, culturally inappropriate behaviour and reduce misogyny while improving sexual safety for employees, volunteers, learners, and members of the public alike.”
Jason Killens, Chair of AACE and CEO of Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust said:
“TASC’s new sexual safety support service has been co-developed by the voices of lived experience, the courageous people who underline why it is so important that we collectively confront abusive behaviour whenever and wherever it occurs. Senior ambulance leaders are more committed than ever to improving workplace culture and will welcome this fantastic new resource that will provide invaluable support to those who have endured this type of inexcusable behaviour.”
One of the service’s biggest supporters is Bron Biddle, Reducing Misogyny & Improving Sexual Safety Programme Lead at AACE. Bron has been affected by sexual harassment and founded the lived experience community Ambulance Voices, which recently fundraised £1,530 to support the launch of TASC’s new service. Bron said:
“Our improved understanding of why someone acts out sexually, the power imbalance that this behaviour is likely to occur in, and how culture can invisibly enable this, has moved the sector into a much more informed place of preventing the whole spectrum of sexual violence from boundary-violating comments to assault, but there remain significant challenges in resetting cultural norms.
National ambulance initiatives to support this significant cultural shift include comprehensive development and learning for colleagues in sexual safety related roles, the establishing of community of practice that has four nation representation and the continued listening to those affected, including learners.
The need for this fantastic new offer from TASC has never been greater, and on behalf of those affected, thank you for supporting this incredibly urgent issue.