NHS WORKERS UNDER ATTACK
There were 23,279 assaults on staff in 2017.. 1 every 23 mins Trusts spend £200m over 4yrs on security to protect employees Emergency wards are often ‘full of drunk and suicidal patients’
NHS workers are being attacked every 23 minutes as hospital trusts are forced to spend £500,000 a year each on security guards to protect them.
During the Tories’ disastrous NHS funding squeeze, violent assaults on staff holding the service together have gone up in each of the past four years.
And the Mirror can reveal for the first time the extent that trusts are now having to pay private security firms to defend staff from violence.
Data released under Freedom of Information laws suggests almost £200million was handed to such companies over the period.
At the same time, NHS waiting times and staff shortages have reached record levels, with the service near breaking point in its 70th year.
Staff including doctors, nurses, porters and cleaners were attacked 23,279 times last year.
Campaigners say some understaffed A&Es have become like war zones with patients backed-up in corridors.
They say lack of mental health and addiction support in the community means emergency wards are full of drunk and suicidal patients, who can become a threat. Kim Sunley, national officer for the Royal College of Nursing, said: “These attacks can cause severe injury and mental trauma that can last for years. Yet, too often, assaults are seen as part of the job by employers. “Our nurses have reported some truly horrific incidents,
including eye-gouging – and one was beaten so severely, she was knocked unconscious.
“It took six members of staff to pull the patient off her and for weeks after the attack, she was too traumatised to leave her house. It was months before she could return to a front-line role.”
Trade unions have warned escalating violence and aggression towards NHS staff is having a “catastrophic” effect on their own mental health.
They report numerous assaults, including kicking, punching, biting, spitting and sexual assault.
Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “This is a huge problem for staff in emergency departments.
“Alcohol plays a massive part. When you mix that with everything else that can go on in an A&E, you can have a cocktail for violence. There has always been a need for security, but it has had to get much heavier 24/7. It can be horrendous for staff realising that being at work is not safe for them.”
Freedom of Information requests were sent to all 157 hospital trusts for data on private security spending for the past four years.
Only 73 provided data for all four years, which showed the amount paid to security firms going up every year.
If all 157 trusts had provided data, this suggests the total security spend in 2014 would have been £45.8million rising to £50.3million in 2017/18. The data suggests the total spend for all trusts over the four-year period would be £191.7million. Last year, the average spent on private security guards per trust was £441,000.
The real amount is likely to be higher as a number of trusts who said they spent nothing on private firms had in-house security guards.
The Mirror also submitted requests to all NHS trusts for data on attacks on staff. Responses from 87 trusts revealed 12,900 violent assaults last year. If all 157 trusts had provided data, it suggests there would have been 23,279 assaults during 2017/18. The real number could be even higher if some incidents go unreported.
Unison head of health Sara Gorton said: “These figures reflect the unacceptable level of assaults on staff.
“Their safety and that of patients should be paramount. But paying private security firms to provide protection should only ever be part of the response. The Government needs to give the NHS money to employ more staff. This would make attacks less likely.”
It comes after the Tories decided to stop collecting data on assaults on NHS staff.
Last year, the Government scrapped NHS Protect, which was responsible for tracking attacks, after the data had shown numbers going up.
Ms Sumley added: “The official body, before it was disbanded, warned ministers the level of assaults was rising. It should not have been removed and the Government must take their role more seriously.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: “We are backing crucial legal changes to ensure those who are violent face the full force of the law.
“NHS employers should have no hesitation in involving police if staff are subject to aggression or violence.”
They deliver emergency treatment, make life and death decisions and provide comfort and reassurance to patients and families.
So it is shocking and unacceptable they are regularly subject to abuse and violence.
More than 23,000 NHS workers were attacked last year – one every 23 minutes.
Doctors and nurses whose job is to save lives are finding their own lives in danger.
Such mindless acts of violence also put the safety and wellbeing of patients at risk.
Hospitals now have to spend tens of millions of pounds a year on security staff, money which could and should be spent on care.
A Private Members’ Bill going through Parliament will increase the maximum sentence for common assault on an emergency worker from six months to a year. This law cannot come soon enough.
It will send a clear signal that attacks will no longer be tolerated.