Health workers reveal details of assaults as study shows 10% rise in incidents
Physical assaults on health workers including nurses and ambulance crews have increased as staff shortages create a “hostile” environment, a new study shows.
Research for Unison revealed a near-10% rise in England last year, with a “staggering” 21% increase in hospitals with an A&E department.
There were 56,435 assaults in 2016/17 compared with 51,447 the previous year in NHS trusts which responded to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request submitted by health magazine HSJ on behalf of the union.
Trusts treating fewer patients within 18 weeks of referral saw the biggest increase in assaults, as did those struggling with financial deficits.
Unison head of health Sara Gorton said: “Across the entire NHS, staff shortages are harming patient care and helping to create a hostile environment where health workers are increasingly at risk of being assaulted.
“It’s no accident that trusts where the pressures seem the most extreme – where there are huge financial deficits or where it’s a struggle to meet growing demands on services – have seen the steepest rise in the number of attacks. This desperate situation is only set to worsen as the squeeze on resources gets tighter.
“Now that there is no NHS or government organisation collecting data on assaults nationally, the picture is growing increasingly unclear. The safety of staff, who care for us when we are sick or injured, and their patients should be paramount.”
Unison gave details of a number of incidents, including a healthcare assistant on an orthopaedics ward where a patient with mental health issues shut the door of his room, grabbed her by the arm, put her in a headlock and would not let go.
A registered nurse said that staffing pressures are making the situation worse, revealing regular abuse. She has been slapped by patients and recently saw a colleague punched in the face.
A male nurse in an acute admissions unit witnessed a colleague being threatened with a knife, saw a patient throw a chair through a window in anger, another aggressively threatening staff trying to prevent him from smoking on the ward, and said he has regularly been scratched and bitten by dementia patients.
An NHS England spokesman said: “It is completely unacceptable that a nurse, paramedic, porter or any member of NHS staff should be assaulted physically or verbally as they care for patients.
“NHS England continues to work with trusts and any of our staff affected, to help the police and other authorities do everything needed when an assault takes place.”#
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “NHS staff work incredibly hard in a high-pressure environment and it is completely unacceptable for them to be subject to aggression or violence.
“We are making crucial legal changes to ensure those who are violent face the full force of the law and NHS employers should have no hesitation in involving the police if their staff are subject to aggression or violence.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2018, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Peter Byrne / PA Wire.
