London Ambulance Service launches campaign after hundreds of staff report sexual abuse

London Ambulance Service has launched a campaign demanding greater respect for its workforce after crews and call handlers reported 462 incidents of sexual abuse in just 12 months.

The incidents, recorded between July 2025 and July 2026, included sexual threats, inappropriate touching, indecent exposure, explicit comments and sexual violence. Almost one-third of the reports came from control room staff who experienced abuse from callers while attempting to help them over the telephone.

The service said such behaviour can have consequences beyond the immediate harm caused to individual employees. Ambulance crews may be taken off the road and call handlers away from their stations, potentially delaying emergency assistance for other patients.

In one case highlighted by the service, a paramedic was sexually assaulted while assessing a patient. She subsequently discovered that the same person had assaulted another paramedic earlier that day. Police were contacted and the offender was jailed for 18 weeks in March.

The new We show up. Show some respect campaign aims to demonstrate the reality faced by ambulance workers and encourage witnesses to challenge unacceptable behaviour and support police investigations. London Ambulance Service has stressed that sexual harassment and violence are not part of working in emergency care and it will pursue prosecution where a crime has been committed.

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