Ambulance staff in Kent are being forced to delay their response times on call outs to certain 'blacklisted' addresses while they wait for police protection.

South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) maintains a log of addresses where patients or members of the public are known or believed to represent an actual or potential danger to its staff.

When responding to call outs to these addresses, crews are alerted and made aware of the potential risk. Sometimes the ambulance will await the arrival of the police prior to approaching the property.

According to details acquired through a Freedom of Information request by Donal MacIntyre’s Radio 5 Live programme, SECAmb has a two-tier flagging system for such addresses.

There are 105 addresses marked as of the highest risk category in the region, which covers Kent, Sussex and Surrey. These 'red risk' addresses are defined as those where staff have previously been assaulted or put in grave danger.

There is also an amber marker given to properties where there has been a threat of violence. Here crews are advised to proceed with caution. SECAmb did not say how many of these were kept on record.

SECAmb had one of the fewest number of 'blacklisted' addresses out of ambulance trusts that responded to the request. Fifteen of the 17 trusts replied.

North West – which includes Merseyside and Greater Manchester – had a record of 3,071 addresses as having a history of violence, abuse or aggression towards ambulance staff.

Although this is the highest figure of any ambulance service it points out it is still a small proportion of the seven million population and 0.1 per cent of the homes.

In London, the number on its database was 1,930 - but no details were given of why these addresses were put on the list.

SECAmb covers a geographical area of 3,600 square miles, including Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, Surrey, North East Hampshire and West Sussex as well as Kent.

It serves a population of 4.5 million and responds to an emergency call on average every minute.

A spokeswoman for SECAmb said: "The trust takes the matter of assaults against its staff very seriously and has put in place a number of measures to tackle the issue.

"The trust maintains a log of addresses where patients or members of the public are known or believed to represent an actual or potential danger to its staff.

"SECAmb will prosecute those people who assault its staff. It also ensures that all new staff are provided with conflict resolution training to minimise the risks of assaults."