London Ambulance Service staff reported 462 sexual abuse incidents in the year to July 2026. It has released calls showing what 999 and 111 handlers hear.
London Ambulance Service staff reported 462 incidents of sexual abuse in the year to July 2026, and around a third of them came from the people who answer 999 and 111 calls.
On Thursday 22 October the service released anonymised extracts from real calls to its control rooms, to show what call handlers and health advisers hear and to ask callers to treat them with respect. The service answers 999 calls from across the capital, Richmond upon Thames included, and runs 111 for most of London. The figures are London-wide; the service has not published a breakdown by borough.
What the calls contain
The service says most of the abuse is too graphic to make public. The extracts it could release include a caller telling a 999 call handler that he hopes to kiss her before describing a sexual act, and a caller who carried on sexually harassing a 111 health adviser after being given a verbal warning.
It says the true number of incidents is likely to be higher than 462 because many go unreported.
In the call handlers’ words
Abigail Oluwasanya is a 111 health adviser, and one of her calls is among those released. She said:
“It shocked me. I was just trying to confirm the patient’s details when he started sexually harassing me over the phone. It feels like these types of callers just want to abuse us, which prevents genuine patients from receiving the help they need.”
Monet Lobman-Edghill, a 999 call handler, said:
“You never know what the next call will bring and it can catch you off guard. We are human beings at the other end of the line, we are not robots, we are not AI. We are here to help, so please be kind to us.”
Call handler Minnie Aidoo described a frequent caller who made sexual noises when a woman answered and hung up when a man did. She said:
“At first I questioned myself and wondered whether he was in pain. As the call continued, it became clear what he was doing. I was shocked that somebody would call 999 to behave like that.”
Maiara, also a 111 health adviser, said:
“I hear sexual abuse over the phone quite often, especially during evening and night shifts. I once had a caller who appeared to be performing a sexual act during an assessment. I was shocked and reported the call to my supervisor. It turned out he had done the same thing to several other health advisers. The call kept playing on my mind. It left me needing therapy.”
What the chief executive said
Jason Killens KAM, the service’s Chief Executive, said:
“Our call handlers and health advisers come to work to help people, yet some are left shocked and distressed by the sexual harassment they face. Nobody should be subjected to that while trying to establish whether someone needs urgent medical help. These calls can stay with colleagues long after they end and take time away from patients who genuinely need us.
“Our message to callers is simple: we are here when you need help. Respect the person who answers. Sexual harassment and abuse are not part of the job and we will not accept it. We urge all of our people to report instances of abuse so we can offer support and investigate the incident, and will always work with police when an offence has been committed.”
What happens to abusive callers
The service’s Violence Reduction Unit examines every reported incident, tracks patterns and identifies repeat callers. It helps staff secure evidence and supports police investigations, and where a crime may have been committed the service works with the police and criminal justice partners to pursue action.
By the service’s own count, its call handlers answer more than 1.9 million 999 calls a year and its 111 services help more than 2.2 million patients, figures for 2023/24 from its latest annual report.
What it means for you
If you ring 999 or 111 from Richmond, the person who answers is working through an assessment to decide what help you need, and every abusive call holds a line that a patient could be using. The service’s request is short: respect the person who answers.
The full release, with the call extracts, is on the London Ambulance Service newsroom. Last week the service asked Londoners to learn CPR before the winter rise in cardiac arrests.
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