There are no plans to force paramedics to use body worn video cameras, East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) has confirmed.

Despite an ongoing dispute between a former EMAS employee and the company, paramedics will not be forced to wear body cameras being rolled out across the NHS nationally.

Former EMAS paramedic, Joe Hemming, 36, was fired by East Midlands Ambulance Service after he claimed that he restrained a man who was about to punch him in an ambulance.

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These cameras are already being rolled out across the national NHS for ambulance crews as part of a plan to reduce attacks on staff.

Footage from the cameras can be used to support criminal prosecutions.

Currently, every ambulance service gives staff the choice of not wearing the cameras, service Chief Executive Richard Henderson said during a board meeting on 10 January 2023.

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) covers Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire.

Under the rollout, medics can wear cameras on their uniform and press a button to start recording if patients or the public become aggressive or abusive.

A similar system is already widely used by police officers.

According to EMAS, a "small number of people" working for the ambulance service provider have chosen not to use the cameras while on shift.

EMAS ambulances already have their own CCTV cameras on board.

Will Pope, a non-executive director, said during the meeting: "Do we have a view on the implementation of mandatory body worn cameras and how it may help with the violence issue?"

Director of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, Nichola Bramhall said body worn cameras are not "the answer to all of our prayers".

In November Ms Bramhall reported that there had been a reduction in incidents of violence against staff.

But the number of violent incidents increased again in December.

She the increase was "probably not unexpected given the levels of performance that we were delivering at that point in time".

She added: "Body worn cameras will help us in prosecuting when a violent incident has happened, it will have limited impact in preventing that.

"Let's not get too focused on body worn cameras as the panacea for reducing violence and aggression incidents.

"What's really important is that we arm our staff with skills to de-escalate to keep themselves safe.

"I am absolutely against mandating this at this point in time."

Mike Naylor, Director of Finance, said: "We've got the body worn cameras available for every member of staff now, the take up is good but maybe not as good as we would like it.

"We have steered clear of mandating them at the moment, it is something we may want to consider.

"They've been fully available for a few months now. It's better for people to want to use them rather than force them to use them.

"We have been highlighting incidents where they would've been helpful for prosecution if they had one.

"The take up is variable, at some stations, it is very good, other ones it has not been as good."

"Some people just don't like them for whatever reason."

Ben Holdaway, Director of Operations at EMAS, added: "If you roll back 10-15 years, we had exactly the same when people didn't want to carry radios around as they felt we were tracking them.

"It's that cultural shift, we've got to work it through."