NHS violence stats released
Figures show decrease in incidences
Hairmyres Hospital staff have been subjected to violence 605 times over the last three years while in the line of duty.
Freedom of Information figures obtained from NHS Lanarkshire and Police Scotland show workers at the hospital have fallen victim to assaults, telephone abuse, threatening and intimidating behaviour, and verbal abuse while caring for patients.
Attacks on staff, including emergency workers, vary from common assaults and serious assaults to assaults with an offensive weapon and include services within the hospital, such as mental health services, old age psychiatry and intensive psychiatric units.
However, the figures show there has been a 27 per cent drop in the total number of attacks since 2014.
Last year, there were 83 assaults on staff by patients and one assault on staff listed as ‘by other’ – a 24 per cent drop from the previous year.
A broken bottle was used in two separate weapon attacks on hospital workers in 2016.
Threatening and intimidating behaviour dropped by 20 per cent from 50 to 40 incidents in 2014 and 2015 but rose by 7.5 per cent last year.
Staff at the acute hospital repeatedly found themselves on the receiving end of verbal abuse with 160 reports listed last year.
However, figures for Hairmyres have more than halved in the last two years (59 per cent).
Of the three acute hospitals in Lanarkshire, Wishaw General has seen the highest number of incidents with 1044 recorded.
In one incident in 2014, a staff member was attacked with a knife.
There have been 568 reports of violence at Monklands Hospital over the last three years.
A total of 2217 incidents of violence took place against hospital workers in Lanarkshire hospitals between 2014 and 2016 – 756 last year (an increase of five per cent year on year).
And last year alone there were 6583 incidents of violence across the whole of Scotland.
In a statement, the health board said: “NHS Lanarkshire continually works in partnership with local police in the management of aggressive and violent individuals. Training is compulsory for NHS Lanarkshire staff to provide staff with the skills needed to assist in the prevention, prediction and management of violence and aggression.
“Staff are actively encouraged to report incidents. The reported information is continually being used to inform future actions. All incidents are recorded on our electronic incident reporting system, DATIX. Revised sub-category options were implemented from February 1, 2014. This along with improved reporting has resulted in increased numbers over earlier years.”