Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Abby Hook.
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00:00Hello, good evening and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV.
00:28I'm Abbey Hook, here are your top stories on Tuesday the 4th of February.
00:33No excuse for abuse. Kent Ambulance staff face rise in physical assaults and verbal
00:40harassment.
00:41Every day, probably every call taker will have some form of abuse, maybe several times
00:46throughout the day in their shift.
00:48Cutting back with tougher rules for pharmacies, Medway Man says weight loss jab must be taken
00:54seriously.
00:55It's been a fantastic thing. Should they make it a bit harder? Probably yes, but for the
00:59right people.
01:00And a sigh of relief, scientists say the asteroid heading our way will almost definitely pass
01:06Kent by.
01:07And as I said, by that time we will almost certainly have the technology in place to
01:12be able to modify the orbit.
01:25This evening, exclusive data obtained by KMTV has revealed violence against Kent's
01:30ambulance crews is getting worse, with more than 2,100 physical assaults recorded by the
01:36South East Coast Ambulance Service between 2014 and 2024.
01:41But as Oliver Leader de Sacks has discovered, verbal harassment against call centre staff
01:45is also on the rise.
01:48More abuse than ever before.
01:52for ambulance crews across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
01:55As data exclusively obtained by KMTV shows that both physical and sexual assaults against
02:03frontline staff working for the South East Coast Ambulance Service have doubled over
02:09the last decade.
02:11And it's no different here for staff at the service's operational centre in Gillingham.
02:18With Kent Ambulance staff facing 470 incidents in 2024 alone.
02:26And actually in 2024 we had 330 assaults on staff, so it's almost getting to one a day.
02:34I think the staff are more confident in reporting incidents because of the process we have set
02:41up to support them when those incidents occur.
02:45But I think also, as you've seen nationally, incidents are rising, which is not acceptable.
02:52But it's not just physical abuse against ambulance staff that's on the rise.
02:58For the dozens of 999 call takers here in Gillingham, verbal harassment is becoming
03:04a problem in everyday life.
03:07Every day probably every call taker will have some form of abuse, maybe several times throughout
03:12the day in their shift, and you can kind of hear it going on around the room as well.
03:17We can hear from the abuse that we're getting on that side, and then knowing that a crew
03:20has to go out to that and face that, it's not nice.
03:23We've had cases where they've been attacked, maybe spat on, verbally abused, it's not nice
03:28to hear.
03:29Between 2022 and 2024, there were nearly 1,000 incidents involving call handlers, more than
03:38300 of which happened last year.
03:41For Nicole and her team, the onslaught is demoralising.
03:46You know, we just kind of end that call, start another call, and it kind of just becomes
03:50sort of commonplace really, which is not nice, but as we're just trying to do our job, it's
03:54just like, oh, we've come to expect it, I think.
03:58The ambulance service say they offer extensive support to staff impacted by abuse, as well
04:06as preparing frontline workers with conflict resolution training, as well as body cams.
04:13But with harassment being increasingly felt, both on the scene and down the phone, an end
04:20to this level of abuse is still uncertain.
04:25Oliver leads the sacks for KNTV in Gillingham.
04:29Oliver joins me in the studio now.
04:32Could you break down some of these quite alarming numbers?
04:35Abi, this is exclusive data KNTV obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and
04:41it does show that back in 2015, assaults against paramedics was far, far lower.
04:47According to data we obtained from the South East Coast Ambulance Service, there were 145
04:52physical assaults on frontline crew.
04:55Now fast forward to 2024, and you can see that that's around 308 physical assaults,
05:01and as for sexual assaults, that's gone up to 24 from less than 10.
05:04So that paints a picture of what is quite a dramatic rise across the entirety of the
05:10South East.
05:11And that's what's important to bear in mind here.
05:13This is for the entire service, which spans from here in Kent to East Sussex to Brighton,
05:19as far as North Hampshire.
05:21So of course, it's a wider area, but it plays in to a wider trend, because back in 2022,
05:27there were around 15,857 incidents nationwide in regards to assaulting paramedics.
05:35But as of 2023 to 2024, that figure rose dramatically by 23.8% to nearly 20,000 assaults a year.
05:46That's quite a staggering number.
05:47That's nationwide.
05:49So what we're seeing here in Kent right now, it fits into a national picture here.
05:55Yeah, let's bring the conversation down to our county of Kent.
05:58Of course, you were saying those figures are across the whole of the South East, but what
06:01is the wider picture here in Kent?
06:03Abi, it's equally alarming.
06:06So I was speaking to the South East Ambulance Coast Service when I was down there today,
06:12and these are some of the numbers they sent me that broke down exactly what's happening
06:16here in the county.
06:18And in 2022, there were 376 incidents facing frontline crew.
06:22And this ranges from everything from verbal incidents, antisocial behaviour, attempted
06:28assault and assault, criminal damage.
06:32But in 2024, this went up to 470.
06:35That's nearly 100 more incidents over the space of around three years.
06:42And we are seeing a lot more things like assault back in 2022, assault, attempted assault,
06:48sexual assault.
06:49There was 121 incidents of that.
06:52Then up to now, it's around 187.
06:55So it's quite alarming what's happening right here in the county, this county-specific data
07:00that was given to me today.
07:02And very quickly, Oliver, do we know any more on the why?
07:06Well, speaking to people at the service, they feel more willing to come forward.
07:11That's the issue with this data, is it's a lot of numbers, but not a lot of reasons.
07:16But if you're feeling more confident about coming forward, they're going to be heard,
07:19listened to, actions can be taken.
07:20Obviously, there's now laws in place, meaning you can get two years in prison for assaulting
07:24a paramedic.
07:25So there is a lot of reasons why people want to come forward.
07:28We don't necessarily know exactly why there's this alarming rise.
07:32Oliver, thank you very much for those details.
07:35Now next this evening, a Maidstone man who was found guilty of the attempted murder of
07:39a police officer has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
07:4250-year-old Robert Jenner was visited by police back in June of 2023 following an allegation
07:48of indecent exposure in Moat Park.
07:51After gaining access to his barricaded flat, one of the officers was stabbed with a pair
07:55of scissors.
07:56Mr Jenner was later tried and found guilty at Maidstone Crown Court, where he was today
08:00sentenced to 30 years in prison.
08:04Detective Inspector Lee Nills spoke outside of the court following the sentencing today.
08:08This is by far the worst attack on a police officer I've ever seen in my career.
08:13The impact on the officers involved is profound.
08:18It's taken them some time to cope with this incident.
08:23We welcome the sentence.
08:24It's a significant sentence that the judge has passed 30 years imprisonment for attempted
08:30murder.
08:31But I think that sentence reflects the vicious and brutal nature of the attack on PC Quinn.
08:39Next this evening, a Medway man says a weight loss jab has changed his life as new restrictions
08:43on how drugs like it are supplied seek to prevent its misuse.
08:49Medical experts warn there are side effects to these new prescriptions, with online distribution
08:54of jabs like Ozempic facing more stringent regulation.
08:58So what are the dangers and potential benefits?
09:00Well, reporter Kristen Hawthorne has been finding out.
09:03The new mechanism for prescribing these drugs has really come about because we need to make
09:09sure that they're used safely, that the right people get them at the right dose and they're
09:15monitored to make sure they stay safe whilst they're taking them.
09:18Weight loss jabs will now require stricter prescribing criteria for online pharmacies.
09:24They will now have to use stricter checks like in-person or video consultations to verify
09:29body mass index, along with an assessment from a GP or with past medical records.
09:36In the UK, just a small percentage of people are taking the weight loss jab, but it could
09:40soon become less as the NHS have announced that it will be more difficult to get to protect
09:45those who may want to take it unhealthily.
09:48I've been speaking to people who have their own story with the treatment.
09:51There's got to be a line.
09:52There are people using it who don't need it out there, people who've got a couple of pounds
09:55extra on them, thinking I need to lose this and taking the injection, it's pointless those
09:58kind of people using it.
09:59But for people that are, I was struggling, my health was bad, really bad, walking up
10:03and down stairs, putting my socks on, doing my shoes up was hard work.
10:07So for me, it's fantastic.
10:08You know, the fact that I can bend down and do my own shoes up is amazing.
10:11At my age, it's been a fantastic thing.
10:14Should they make it a bit harder?
10:15Probably yes, but for the right people.
10:18There should be more hoops you have to go through.
10:20You shouldn't just be able to go, here you go, there it is, because you could just get
10:25someone else to stand on a scale, send it to wherever you're going to get it from online
10:30and they're not going to know any different.
10:31They're just going to think that's you.
10:33Any pharmacist who provides the drug without following the new guidelines could face investigations.
10:39While the drug has many benefits such as helping with diabetes, heart health and blood pressure,
10:45many people use it for its weight loss side effects, which has since led to global shortages
10:50and counterfeit versions of the product.
10:52By making the jab harder to get, what benefits, if any, will this have on public health?
10:58Until now, the danger has been that people have been able to circumvent those safety
11:04mechanisms either by being untruthful when they're talking to online pharmacists or because
11:10online pharmacists have issued without carrying out the correct checks.
11:14Neil and Debbie from Gillingham Street Angels get their information and support from online
11:19groups and influencers, but say that while this has its benefits, it's not enough.
11:23A whole community of people taking these injections on TikTok and you look at some people and
11:28you think, why? Why are you doing it? You don't need to do it. You're just normal kind of size.
11:32Don't get any support. There is no support. They just send you the injection. That's it.
11:37And basically you're just left to get on with it.
11:40So if you're thinking of trying the medication, you will now have to speak to your GP instead
11:44of filling out an online form.
11:46Kristen Hawthorne for CAMTV in Renham.
11:50Time for a quick break now. I'll see you in a few minutes.
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