Ross Thomson

Two cops have swapped the streets of Wishaw for the wards of the town’s hospital.

PCs Craig Buchanan and Scott Aird are taking part in a three-month pilot scheme at University Hospital Wishaw which will see the two officers patrolling in and around the hospital.

The aim is to stop vital police resources being diverted from the streets to the hospital on a regular basis and providing assurance for staff and patients alike.

Wishaw’s Area Commander, Chief Inspector Mark Leonard, said: “We spent 177 hours of police time at the hospital in 2016/17.

“These included missing persons cases and other incidents.

“The aim is to reduce the number of incidents and build a rapport with the staff and assist the hospital’s security team.”

PC Buchanan and PC Aird have now settled into their new ‘beat’ and have been pleased with the response from the public and staff.

PC Buchanan said: “We are here to see what we can do to help and if there are any ongoing issues at the hospital we can deal with them.

“We hope it gives the staff a bit more confidence and if we can nip any incidents in the bud we will do.

“We worked with a lot of different agencies when we were on the streets in Gowkthrapple and Craigneuk and that’s what we are trying to do here.”

The number of hours spent at the hospital was shown in official NHS Lanarkshire stats, obtained by the Wishaw Press through a Freedom of Information request, which showed there were 394 assaults recorded at the hospital in 2016.

That figure was 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.

PC Aird added: “The hospital is like a small town in itself so it’s certainly a challenge. “It’s all about gauging where we are needed. “I think a lot of people see the uniform and it immediately makes a difference.”