Geoff's Story

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Paramedic Geoff Williams needed hospital treatment after he was called a ‘c**t’ and spat at by a patient.

Geoff, who is based in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, describes feeling ‘dirty’ after the incident, which left him unable to work the remainder of his shift.

He said: “An assault on one of us is an assault on all of us.

“I come to work to help people, not to be assaulted.

“This felt personal – there was so much malice.”

Geoff and his colleague Matt Baker, an emergency medical technician, were responding to a medical emergency in Cwmbran, Torfaen, in August 2023.

Geoff said: “When we got there, the man was in an agitated state, heavily intoxicated and behaving erratically.

“We got him onto the back of the ambulance, and the police arrested him for being drunk and disorderly in the process.

“I got him onto the stretcher but he was becoming aggressive and lashing out.

“The next minute, he said ‘You’re a c**t’ and spat in my face.

“The only way I can describe how I felt is dirty, just really dirty.”

Geoff and Matt took the man to hospital, where Geoff had his eyes flushed and a round of emergency bloods.

He said: “With any assault involving bodily fluids, the risk is huge.

“You have to be careful about things like hepatitis, tuberculosis and Covid-19.

“Having my eyes flushed meant I couldn’t drive, which in turn meant I couldn’t finish my shift, and when an ambulance is taken off the road, that can have a huge impact on service delivery, especially in a small community.

“My wife Hollie is a paramedic in Newport, and she had the call that we both dread, which was to say that the other had been assaulted.

“It was a difficult time.”

Geoff started his ambulance career as a volunteer community first responder, later qualifying as an emergency medical technician and a paramedic.

In his eight-year career, this was his third assault.

“It definitely makes you more conscious of things,” he said.

“This experience will always be at the back of my mind now when I’m treating other patients.”

At Newport Magistrates’ Court in October 2023, Curtis Card pleaded guilty to assault by beating of an emergency worker, being drunk and disorderly in a public place and possession of a Class B controlled drug.

He was ordered to pay £100 compensation to Geoff and was also given a community order, including a three-month curfew and a 10-day rehabilitation requirement.

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