MORE ambulance staff are assaulted in Essex than anywhere else in the east of England, new figures have revealed.

Last year 24 staff were assaulted in the county during the course of duty.

Across the east of England region, which stretches from Norfolk to Hertfordshire, there were a total of 95 assaults - an increase on last year's figure of 84.

Associate director of A&E services Neil Storey said: “It is disappointing that the number of assaults on our staff in 2008-09 has increased from the previous year, but this may reflect better awareness among staff of the importance of reporting incidents. We sincerely hope that the numbers of assaults will drop in the future.

“The vast majority of people are supportive of the ambulance service, but unfortunately there are still those few people who obstruct our staff as they try to go about their work helping people around the region.

“We would ask those individuals to think through the potentially tragic consequences of their actions before they assault an ambulance crew.”