QEH staff still face violence
STAFF working to save lives at Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital are still facing an unacceptable number of physical assaults – despite a drop in the number of cases, health bosses have said.
The hospital spoke out as statistics released last week by the NHS’s Security Management Service showed that in 2006/2007 there were 46 physical assaults against hospital staff, compared to 80 the year before.
Nationally, there were 56,000 assaults on NHS staff in England, 2,300 fewer than in 2005/2006 and 4,700 fewer than in 2004/2005.
The drop in the number of assaults has been hailed by bosses as the result of greater awareness of security measures and staff training, which has been top of the agenda for its new specialist security manager Gary Morris since he started in February this year.
He said: “NHS staff perform critical work to help the public and it is completely unacceptable that they should face violence and aggression in the course of their job.
“We are pleased that there are fewer assaults than the previous year, which shows we are beginning to see success in our attempts to tackle violence. But there is still a great deal of work to be done and all front-line staff are being trained in prevention and management of violence.”
However, the QEH said many assaults were clinical, rather than deliberate – caused by patients by accident because of their condition or because they were disorientated.
The statistics also showed that assaults against staff working within Norfolk Primary Care Trust (PCT) had also fallen by more than a quarter in one year.
In 2006/2007 there were 107 assaults against PCT staff, while in 2005/2006, throughout the five former PCTs in Norfolk which merged to form one county-wide authority last October, there were 389 – a decrease of just under 28 per cent.
Gillian Stansfield, security manager at Norfolk PCT, said the decrease was a significant step forward in improving safety and security for staff.
“The PCT has very strict policies about how we deal with these incidents and we have taken people to court in the past and would do so again.”
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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