NT paramedics could carry pepper spray for safety, minister says

The Northern Territory government has suggested ambulance officers carry pepper spray and body-worn cameras in an effort to combat violent incidents on the job.

St John Ambulance NT said paramedics in Central Australia have faced 88 instances of serious violence since January this year, while first responders in Darwin say there have been record rates of assault.

The Alice Springs Member for Braitling Joshua Burgoyne said it was "extraordinarily disappointing" to see people attack paramedics and that his government was looking at how it could better support the service and its staff.

"There's been conversations obviously with management about whether or not paramedics carrying pepper spray for a defensive aspect is something that they want to do," Mr Burgoyne said.

"Obviously there's going to be mixed views right across the workforce as to whether or not this is a positive thing.

"As a government what we're trying to do is say 'whatever you need it's on the table'."

Earlier this year, St John Ambulance NT said it was considering introducing body-worn cameras following rioting in Alice Springs and ongoing assaults across the NT.

A string of violent incidents

The government floated the pepper spray idea following a string of violent incidents in Central Australia in the past week.

On Friday September 11, six paramedics were forced to barricade themselves inside a home while treating a patient in the Alice Springs eastern suburb of Larapinta.

St John Ambulance NT southern regional manager Abbey Studley told ABC Radio Alice Springs paramedics were tending to the patient when "a large number of people arrived in a taxi" and "the scene changed really quickly".

"We went from a critically unwell patient that we were providing rapid life-saving treatment, to all the crew involved having to stand up really rapidly and think about their own safety first," Ms Studley said.

"Our crews basically had to push violent persons outside the house and barricade themselves inside using their bodies and using a stretcher and lock themselves in the house.

"We were unable to care for the patient in the typical fashion because we had to care for our own safety and the crew's safety at that moment.

"We were trying really rapidly to provide that life-saving care, we had to adapt that because of the situation of violence, which was just horrendous."

The team set off duress alarms to notify police they needed urgent back up.

The patient was able to be taken to hospital once officers arrived and the situation was under control.

St John Ambulance said the day before that incident a paramedic was struck by a glass bottle that was thrown at them and in a separate incident that week ambulance officers faced threats while transporting a patient.

"We haven't seen a reduction in the statistics around the number of assaults perpetrated across the Northern Territory," Ms Studley said.

"When that happens, once a week, once a shift, every day for a month, and it happens to you and your colleagues, it's really hard for that cumulative effect to not start to ... have an impact on our staff and therefore their welfare."

As a result, St John Ambulance has rolled out additional training in preventative action, de-escalation, cultural safety and have introduced a policy encouraging staff to withdraw when they feel unsafe.

"Because of violence perpetrated by others on scene, our crews are having to withdraw and that takes a toll on, not only the critically ill patient, but also on the paramedics who joined this career to really help people," Ms Studley said.

"It's really disappointing, but it's also the decision that I really champion for my staff is you come first and I need to be able to put you guys on the road every day.

"And if you're not safe, you can't deliver that care anyway."