Card to play when so many patients see red

THE foundational principle of the National Health Service is about providing free healthcare to all who need it – so a decision by one NHS trust to effectively bar some patients is one that will not have been taken lightly.

However, the move by the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust to “red card” violent and abusive patients and visitors for up to 12 months when it is clinically safe to do so is one that is both sadly understandable and a poor reflection of how society is going.

The trust has also started using a series of body cameras in a bid to curb violence and aggression towards health workers after cases at the East London/ Essex trust doubled in the last three years.

Staff have been punched, subject to racist slurs and even had their teeth broken by violent patients.

Despite dozens of incidents, only one person has been banned from trust grounds in the last five years, with changes now being introduced to make it more straightforward to order a ban.

The body cameras and new policies which make it easier to ban patients form part of a new campaign called “No Abuse, No Excuse” to reduce violence and aggression towards staff.

The experience of staff at the trust is sadly commonplace across the country – with 28 per cent of NHS employees across England reporting being subjected to harassment, bullying or abuse from patients and their relatives.

There can be little doubt there will be other hospital bosses watching with keen interest to see how these measures work and whether they should take similar steps themselves.