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Healthcare Sector

More than 58,000 physical assaults reported in 2005/2006*

Just over a quarter of UK nurses have been physically assaulted at some stage in their career.  For the approximately 200,000 healthcare professionals that work in the community, the risk of pohysical violence and verbal abuse is proportionally higher still.  Latest figures published by the NHS CFSMS show in excess of 58,000 physical assaults were reported in 2005/2006.*

Violent abuse against healthcare workers in on the increase. In 2002/3, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) experienced an unprecedented number of attacks against its staff. These included:

  • 116,000 reported attacks (both verbal and serious physical assaults)
  • 37% of abuse by patients or colleagues
  • 14% of staff suffered a physical attack
  • 36% subsequestly suffered from work-related stress

In addition, 80% of nursing staff in mental health units experienced violent or threatening behaviour.

NHS staff who work alone face a significantly increased risk of being attacked or verbally abused, attributed to some of the following causes:

  • They do not have the immediate support of colleagues or others, should an incident occur.
  • Very often assaults take place in one to one situations with no way of evidencing the incident - evidence which could potentially support any action taken against alleged offenders.
  • This lack of evidence results in a reluctance by lone working staff to report incidents.

In accepting a 'culture of violence' towards lone working staff, victims can experience feelings of unworthiness, isolation and that nothing can or is being done to support them.  In 2004/5, the NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) trialed and evaluated Identicom as a potential cost effective solution to this major problem.  Following a successful NHS trial in March 2005, Dr John Reid MP (then Health Secretary) publicly announced that over 100,000 community based NHS staff should benefit from Identicom.  Additionally, Jim Gee, Chief Executive of the NHS Security Management Service said:

"The NHS Security Management Service has successfully completed trials of the Identicom device.  NHS staff said they felt safer and more at ease in their working environment when using this device.”

Since the 2002/3 statistics, the NHS SMS has reported that during 2004/05 there was a fifteenfold increase in the number of prosecutions against people who attack NHS staff.

NHS workers at risk include... 

  • Alcohol Detox Nurses
  • Care Assistants
  • Community Midwives
  • Community Paramedic Officers
  • Community Psychiatric Nurses
  • Continence Nurses
  • District Nurses
  • Domestics
  • Emergency Care Practitioners
  • General Practitioners
  • Health Visitors
  • Laboratory Staff
  • Macmillan Nurses
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Orthotist
  • Outreach Workers
  • Paediatric Nurses
  • Paramedics
  • Physiotherapists
  • Public Health Nurses
  • School Nurses
  • Security Staff

 

SoloProtect benefits for the health sector

  • The Identicom device provides a visible deterrent that clearly demonstrates that violence against NHS staff will not be tolerated and any person who attacks staff will be prosecuted
  • SoloProtect helps in the detection of assaults by facilitating a way in which staff can confidently report an incident at any time of day or night, via SoloProtect's 24 hour monitoring centre
  • Identicom's 'Red Alert' activation function provides staff with a way to discreetly raise an alarm without further compromising their personal safety during an attack, unlike trying to use a mobile phone.
  • GSM technology allows for community based staff to have access to support, no matter where they are, with Identicom's amber alert function being used to aid location
  • SoloProtect allows more incidents to be investigated, as a direct result of more audio evidence being recorded.
  • SoloProtect provides NHS organisations with additional information about the nature of attacks, that can be used to support sanctions and redress on lone worker polices and procedures.
  • SoloProtect will assist any NHS Local Security Management Specialist or NHS Trust Project Manager in identifying workers at risk and the best method of implementation to reduce risk and cost.
  • SoloProtect will proactively report back to the LSMS, or Project Manager, statistics and facts about the usage of the service and any areas needing improvement.

If you would like to learn more about how the NHS SMS is protecting vulnerable NHS workers, please visit the  NHS' Counter Fraud Security Management Service website at: www.cfsms.nhs.uk

* Source: NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service, 2006

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