AMBULANCE crews are set to take out private prosecutions against people who attack them.

And Lancashire Ambulance Service Trust director Peter Cooney today said staff had his backing to walk away from any abusive patients without treating them.

The news comes as it was revealed stressed-out staff are falling sick due to increasing abuse from patients, according to union leaders.

Abuse and violence of ambulancemen from patients, patients' relatives and even bystanders is on the increase in East Lancashire, especially on busy Friday and Saturday night shifts in town centres, Hugh Moores, senior Unison steward and Blackburn paramedic said.

Earlier this week, a Blackburn ambulanceman was slightly hurt after being called to help a mental health patient and last week a brick was thrown at a Preston ambulance as it left the scene of an accident.

In a report to the Trust, Mr Moores reveals the equivalent of 520 days have been lost in six months this year due to stress-related illness, which is about a sixth of all sickness absence. Illness costs the Trust about £460,000 a year, according to figures published for the first time.

The report said four people had retired on grounds of ill health related to stress since April, at a "significant" cost to the Trust.

Bosses are now considering bringing in a stress management policy which will encourage managers to identify stress and offer counselling and support where necessary. But Mr Moores, who has been threatened with weapons by patients several times in his 17 years service, said many of the attacks were relatively minor but the continual hostility took its toll on their nerves.

He said the other major stress-factor was the heavy workload -- emergency 999 calls have increased by 28 per cent in six years.

He claimed the introduction of new services such as paramedic fast-response cars and the air ambulance helicopter had left front-line crews short-staffed by about 15 to 20 paramedics in East Lancashire and about 30 to 40 paramedics were needed across the county.

He said: "We know it's a difficult problem to solve but we feel all the management is doing is putting up signs telling people not to attack us."

Mr Moores said that it was up to the police and Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether or not to prosecute but added: " We feel our management don't really back us."

He said Unison was considering taking out private prosecutions against attackers in a bid to cut the violence and send out the message that they won't put up with it anymore.

The public service union has already successfully brought court cases on behalf of Greater Manchester Ambulance Service staff against their attackers.

Mr Moores said: "One day someone will get seriously hurt or worse. We don't want to have to wait for that to happen before something is done." Peter Cooney, Lancashire Ambulance Service director, said: "We are at one with the staff on this issue but we are not in entire control. The crown prosecution service decides about prosecuting and we have sometimes been disappointed with their decisions."

He said the Trust was also considering helping staff to bring private civil prosecutions, possibly by paying for an initial consultation with a lawyer then proceeding on a no-win, no-fee basis.

Mr Cooney said much of the stress was caused by staff's fear of crime rather than actual incidents. He said only 68 incidents had been reported last year when ambulances had responded to 130,000 calls.

He said the Trust would support staff who decided to leave a scene without treating patients if they were threatened.

But Mr Moores said the report didn't do anything to tackle the reasons why ambulancemen are going off sick.

He said: "They should be looking at the cause rather than the treatment."

A CPS spokesman said: "The police are responsible for investigating complaints and then submitting files to the CPS for review.

"Decisions to prosecute are based on a review of the evidence. The CPS Lancashire is unaware of any individual complaints into the handling of such cases."