- Physical violence and verbal abuse against NHS staff rose by a fifth in 12 months, according to a study published today.
Hospital trusts are recording more than 500 incidents a year despite increased security measures, including closed circuit television and more security guards.
Guardian 29 January 2001.
- Hospitals step up security as attacks on staff rise. Guardian
Society
Thursday April 12, 2001
- Tony Blair made his most populist election speech yet when he promised yesterday to crack down on thugs who attack nurses, paramedics, doctors and teachers. Guardian Society
Thursday May 31, 2001
- The NHS crackdown measures on abusive and violent patients, as announced by
health secretary Alan Milburn today, were inspired by an award-winning scheme
developed by staff at a London hospital. Patrick Butler Guardian
Society Thursday November 1, 2001
- Treatment ban for violent patients Patrick Butler Guardian
Society Thursday November 1, 2001
- Violent patients denied treatment John Carvel, social affairs editor Guardian
Friday November 2, 2001
- Withholding Treatment from Violent and Abusive Patients in NHS
Trusts.
Health
Service Circular Series Number: HSC 2001/18
- Violent patients may be refused care. Health minister supports
zero-tolerance approach to drunk and abusive patients. Guardian
Society Friday December 28, 2001
- Plan to withdraw treatment from racist patients Zero tolerance of abuse
under new guidelines. Guardian
Unlimited Friday January 25, 2002
- Health of the system. Guardian
letters Saturday January 26, 2002
- When did ambulance crews start wearing body armour? Michael Foxton The
Guardian Tuesday July 2, 2002
- Assaults rise despite crackdown. James Meikle
Thursday March 27, 2003 The Guardian
- Violent patients in hospitals face tougher legal action under a crackdown
on anti-social behaviour unveiled yesterday by the government. Peter
Hetherington
Tuesday April 15, 2003 The Guardian
- MPs want more prosecutions of violent patients who threaten NHS staff,
saying the existing "zero tolerance" approach has failed to bring reductions
in physical or verbal abuse and that many incidents are still not reported.
James Meikle
Wednesday July 23, 2003 The Guardian
- House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts -
A safer place to work: Protecting NHS hospital and ambulance staff from
violence and aggression
- Panic alarms to be fitted in schools and hospitals. Alan Travis, home
affairs editor
Friday August 8, 2003 The Guardian
- Attacks on healthcare workers are increasing despite initiatives to stop
them. Staff need to log every incident and challenge the penny-pinching that
leaves them exposed, says Geoff Martin.
Thursday August 14, 2003
- One in three doctors has suffered abuse and violence from patients in the
last year and half of all doctors believe violence at work is a problem, a
survey revealed today.
Wednesday October 15, 2003
- The health secretary, John Reid, yesterday promised that violent patients,
relatives and friends would be prosecuted for verbal and physical attacks on NHS
staff. John Carvel and James Meikle
Thursday October 16, 2003 The Guardian
- John Reid's promise that violent patients will be prosecuted for verbal and
physical attacks on NHS staff (Report, October 16) is long-awaited. Letters
Friday
October 17, 2003 The Guardian
- Zero tolerance is a term that is usually associated with get-tough mayors of
US cities, but now it is being practised closer to home. Spend any time reading
the posters in your local hospital and you will notice that the NHS will not
tolerate any kind of aggression to its staff.
Tuesday November 4, 2003 The Guardian
- England's overstretched emergency services are struggling to cope with
increasing violence against staff as a result of rising levels of binge
drinking, a coalition of charities warned today.
Tuesday November 25, 2003
- Nurses are too quick to respond aggressively to violent patients, a
conference heard. Speakers accused mental health and learning disability nurses
of using restraint against patients as the first resort. Hélène Mulholland
Thursday April 22, 2004
- The first nationwide order banning a troublesome patient from any hospital
in England and Wales was secured by the NHS yesterday in an attempt to stop a
campaign of abuse against staff by a 53-year-old Yorkshireman. John Carvel,
social affairs editor
Thursday June 3, 2004 The Guardian
- Union leaders today called for tougher penalties for violent patients who
assault NHS staff. Unison, the UK's largest health union, said nurses,
paramedics and other health workers were regularly threatened with knives and
guns and punched and spat at, and needed greater protection.
Thursday December 23, 2004
- A 53-year-old fetishist from York yesterday became the first NHS patient to
be jailed for harassing medical staff under a tougher line ordered by John Reid,
the health secretary. Norman Hutchins was sentenced to three years in prison by
Leeds crown court and put under a permanent antisocial behaviour order to stop
further misbehaviour on all NHS premises in England and Wales. John Carvel,
social affairs editor
Friday
January 21, 2005 The Guardian
- The NHS should consider the wider use of mechanical restraints, including
handcuffs and straitjackets, to tackle the rising number of violent mentally ill
patients, senior psychiatric nurses said today. David Batty
Wednesday February 2, 2005
- The straitjacket, the restraining garment that came to symbolise the harsh
treatment of mental health patients, may return, with the NHS considering its
reintroduction in a modern form. Mary O'Hara
Wednesday
February 2, 2005 The Guardian
- Restraint of mental health patients may not be the answer - but there should
be a full discussion of the issue, says Joy Duxbury.
Wednesday February 2, 2005
- A south London mental hospital is to be sentenced at the Old Bailey next
month for one of the most serious breaches of health and safety regulations in
the 55-year history of the NHS. John Carvel, social affairs editor
Monday
April 18, 2005 The Guardian
- The number of people convicted of violent attacks against NHS staff has
risen 15-fold in two years, according to figures published yesterday. Gerard
Seenan
Tuesday August 30, 2005 The Guardian
- One in four NHS nurses has considered quitting their jobs because of
assaults by patients - including punches, kicks and hair-pulling - a survey
reveals today. Hélène Mulholland and agencies
Monday
October 3, 2005
- Risk assessment. Figures published today reveal there were over 40,000
attacks on mental health nurses in England last year. One nursing assistant was
bludgeoned to death. How can such incidents be prevented? Mary O'Hara reports.
Wednesday October 19, 2005 The Guardian
- In my experience of working daily in 15 NHS mental health trusts and over 50
acute mental health wards in the last five years, I have not seen evidence of a
culture of physical force (Risk
assessment, October 19). Much more common is a culture of nursing staff
expecting physical assault, combined with a sense of hopelessness and
frustration that perpetrators of violence are rarely even interviewed by police
after an incident and prosecuted even less frequently. Indeed, the perpetrators'
temporary occupation of a mental health unit is often sufficient to protect them
from investigation and prosecution, even though their illness may not have
contributed to their violent act - as research in the US has shown. There are
numerous NHS mental health wards that have significantly reduced incidents of
violence. In all of those in which I have been involved, this has been achieved
through a combination of increased nurse-patient engagement and increased staff
visibility in patient areas with very clear, consistently applied ward
boundaries and a commitment to involve the police after violent (or other
criminal) behaviour. This, in my opinion, is the correct balance that many
mental health units have yet to achieve. Nick Bowles, senior lecturer in mental
health nursing School of nursing, University of Bradford.
Wednesday October 26, 2005 The Guardian
- People who abuse or threaten nurses and doctors will face fines of up to
£1,000 under new proposals. Around one in four of NHS medics have suffered
swearing, harassment, bullying or threats from patients and their relatives,
said the Department of Health. Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt will give
details of the new "zero tolerance" approach to the problem at a conference of
the GMB union in Nottingham on Tuesday.
Monday
February 27, 2006 7:58 AM
- The NHS has been urged to adopt a "zero tolerance" approach to bullying
after a survey found staff were being harassed by patients and colleagues. The
poll found a quarter of NHS staff had been bullied and harassed by patients and
their relatives, while almost one in seven had been the victim of similar
treatment from their colleagues. The findings have prompted the British Medical
Association to call for the NHS to adopt a policy of "zero tolerance to bullying
from the top down". The report, released by the BMA, said bullying and
harassment was increasing within the health service. However, it said this could
be because staff were reporting more incidents after realising they did not have
to tolerate unfair treatment.
Friday
May 19, 2006 7:03 AM
- Survey reveals
abuse and bullying at hospital. Workers are more likely to face injury,
bullying and abuse in
Weston General Hospital than in most other trusts around the country, a
survey has revealed. North Somerset Keep our NHS Public campaign spokesman,
Kelvin Fraser, said: "This survey shows the reality of the situation for hard
pressed local NHS staff. Clearly their working conditions are deteriorating and
the ever-increasing demands being made upon them are bound to take a heavy toll,
not only on staff themselves but on the patients they care for." Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Weston Mercury 7 July 2006
- Police chiefs yesterday promised the NHS a crackdown on violent behaviour
against healthcare staff in England. The Association of Chief Police Officers
said it will investigate every reported incident of violence or abuse on NHS
premises and "put pressure on the courts and Crown Prosecution Service to ensure
offenders receive tougher sentencing." Violent patients will no longer be
treated leniently. All offenders will be arrested and not released on caution
without taking into account the views of the victims, Acpo said in a memorandum
of understanding signed with the NHS. John Carvel, social affairs editor
Wednesday
August 16, 2006 The Guardian
- Violent and abusive patients in one of the busiest NHS accident and
emergency departments are to be given on-the-spot £80 fines in an extension of
the government's policy of showing zero tolerance to antisocial behaviour. The
Royal Bolton hospital in
Greater Manchester said yesterday it would be the first in England to mete
out instant punishment to drunken yobs who cause trouble or threaten staff. John
Carvel, social affairs editor
Saturday
November 4, 2006 The Guardian
- Undercover police to patrol hospital ward. Undercover police officers
are to be placed in one Britain's busiest emergency wards to tackle anti-social
behaviour and violence towards staff. Plain-clothed officers will begin
patrolling the A&E department at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham as
part of a three-month pilot project. Press Association
Thursday
March 1, 2007 SocietyGuardian.co.uk
- Protection racket. Anti-abortion campaigners, frustrated at the
national level, are now targeting schools that offer sexual health services to
pupils. Polly Curtis talks to those in the firing line.
Tuesday June 26, 2007 The Guardian
- Minister launches zero tolerance campaign on attacks against staff.
Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey has launched an awareness campaign to
reinforce the message that attacks against healthcare staff will not be
tolerated.
Care & Health
27 June 2007
- PARAMEDIC RECOVERS AFTER ATTACK. A FEMALE paramedic is recovering
after being attacked by a pair of violent thieves. The woman was injured after
disturbing two men attempting to break into a marked ambulance car which was
parked outside the ambulance station in Brownsover Lane,
Rugby at shortly before 1.30am on Friday morning. The ambulance worker was
inside the station when she heard a noise outside. She went out to investigate
and found two males dressed in hoodies attempting to break into the marked car.
She shouted at them to leave the vehicle alone, but one of the males then ran at
her and punched her in the face, causing a cut above her eye. The two thieves
then ran off along Brownsover Lane. It is believed they then ran off towards
Kipling's Island. The ambulance paramedic was taken to hospital for treatment to
the cut. Rugby
Advertiser 6 July 2007
- Third of community nurses abused, survey finds. More than a third of
nurses have been assaulted or harassed while working alone in the community over
the past two years, according to a survey published today. Many nurses said
their employers did not keep track of their whereabouts and felt their work was
becoming more dangerous, the Royal College of Nursing study also warned. David
Batty
Monday July 9, 2007 Guardian Unlimited
- A third of nurses working alone in the community have been assaulted or
harassed in last two years. More than one third of nurses working alone have
been assaulted or harassed in the last two years according to a
survey released
today by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). The survey results are published on
the same day the RCN launch the “You're
not alone” campaign which calls on the government to honour its commitment
to protect lone workers through funding training and technology to call in help
quickly.
Care & Health 10 July 2007
- We take the punches, they take the profits. Carer Nicholas Whittaker
reveals the almost daily assaults which low-paid staff suffer in money-spinning
private care homes. Punching people who try to help is bad form and everyone
sides with NHS staff who get assaulted. Private sector carers aren't so lucky.
Punches, kicks, slaps, bites, hair-pulling - they are all in a day's work for
many. Complaining is discouraged, so the public remains blissfully unaware of
the attacks that go on in care homes and special schools. It is a privatised
equivalent of the 'domestic' - hushed up for the sake of respectability. Bad
publicity can so easily damage a company's prospects.
Monday July 23, 2007 SocietyGuardian.co.uk
- Attack alarms for nurses and crackdown on dirty wards. Alan Johnson,
the health secretary, yesterday put improvements in safety at the centre of the
drive to raise standards in the NHS. He promised personal safety alarms for
30,000 frontline staff most at risk of assault, and pledged tougher powers for
inspectors to shut infected wards that could endanger patients' lives. Mr
Johnson said the government has set aside £97m to provide alarms to community
nurses who work on their own and are at risk of attack from disturbed patients
or their angry relatives. John Carvel, social affairs editor
Wednesday September 26, 2007 The Guardian
- Assaults On Mental Health Staff Rise Despite Overall Drop In NHS.
The number of physical assaults on NHS staff working in mental health and
learning disabilities has shot up over the last year.
Care & Health 13 November 2007
- A third of doctors attacked at work. One in three doctors has
been physically or verbally attacked at work in the last year, but most did not
report it, a survey reveals today. One in 10 was physically attacked, including
being stabbed, kicked, punched, bitten or spat on. Of these, a third suffered
minor injuries but one in 20 was seriously hurt. Most doctors who were attacked
did not report it to police. The British Medical Association (BMA) said it was
concerned that indicated an increasing acceptance of violence. Sara Gaines
Society
Guardian, Thursday January 10 2008
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