Car ferry in port smash Hospital reds
Thug patients to be sent off
VIOLENT patients will be given a “red card” and sent home without treatment in a blitz on hospital attacks.
The soccer-style warnings will see unruly patients being told to calm down – akin to a referee’s yellow card.
But if their behaviour doesn’t improve they will then be red-carded and sent home. The move comes after frontline NHS staff suffered 67,874 assaults last year – up 13,000 on 2009.
Whittington Hospital in North London will use the card system “for withholding treatment in appropriate circumstances”. Chiefs will also review “conflict resolution procedures” to ease pressure on staff after 42 per cent FIVE people were taken to hospital after a car ferry smashed into a port wall on Gran Canaria.
The Volcan de Tamasite lost power and ended up adrift as it set off for the neighbouring island of Tenerife carrying 140 passengers, including an unconfirmed number of Brits, and 30 crew.
Waves forced it on to the concrete wall at the entrance to Luz Port in capital Las Palmas on Friday morning. One man suffered a broken complained of work-related stress. A third also reported harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives and visitors in the past year.
A Whittington Hospital NHS Trust spokesman said: “We have a zero tolerance approach to physical violence and encourage staff to report any incidents.
“As part of this we are also considering additional measures to help collarbone and the other people treated had mostly suffered panic attacks.
The damaged wall came down on oil trucks, causing a spill that led to an environmental alert. Up to 200,000 litres of fuel was feared to have leaked but port authority sources said the situation could be resolved with no real impact.
Police and the ferry owner Naviera Armas are probing the accident. staff de-escalate potentially violent situations through a yellow and red card system.” A special police unit is already removing aggressive patients at the Whittington and nearby hospitals. But some experts say a card system can pose problems. Thea Jourdan, of the Hippocratic Post online forum for medical professionals, said: “Staff face huge problems from aggressive patients and relatives but there will also be patients with issues that make them aggressive such as head trauma, strokes and maybe mental health.” CAFES at three Oxford hospitals, including the world-famous John Radcliffe, are ditching chocolate snacks and stocking machines with more zero-sugar drinks and fresh fruit.