One assault
Shameful toll of attacks on staff over three years at their work
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Shock new figures show daily assaults on hard working staff at Wishaw General Hospital at the hands of the public.
The official NHS Lanarkshire stats, obtained by the Wishaw Press through a Freedom of Information request, show that there were 394 assaults recorded at the hospital in 2016.
That figure is a sharp rise on the 318 attacks in 2015 and slightly higher than the 2014 figure of 374.
In total there were 1086 assaults over the past three years – that’s just under ONE ASSAULT PER DAY over that period.
Kenny Small, NHS Lanarkshire’s director of human resources, said: “We take a zero tolerance approach against anyone who attacks any of our staff either physically or verbally and we work with local police in the management of aggressive and violent individuals.
“The safety of staff and patients is of paramount importance and we take the issue of hospital security very seriously.
“Staff are encouraged to report all violent incidents to the police and they will be fully supported by NHS Lanarkshire.
“We also have mandatory training for appropriate staff to enable them to manage violent or potentially violent individuals.”
Wishaw General’s 2016 figure dwarves the figure of Lanarkshire’s other two acute hospitals Monklands and Hairmyres.
Last year there were 169 assaults at Hairmyres and 201 at Monklands while the overall three year figures were a total of 622 attacks at Hairmyres and 610 at Monklands.
The figures for all three Lanarkshire