New measures to protect NHS staff announced

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has outlined new measures to protect NHS staff in an attempt to reduce the thousands of assaults on them that take place every year.

The latest staff survey of NHS staff in England shows that violence against NHS staff has reached its highest level in five years, with one in seven health professionals attacked in the course of their work last year. The figures indicate that ambulance workers, nurses and doctors in A&E and mental health personnel have experienced the worst of the increase.

Therefore, with MPs having already moved to pass new legislation to deter attacks, Hancock has stressed that the NHS will adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to violence against its staff, with a new bill to double the sentence for assaults on emergency workers from six months to a year expected to become law soon.

Speaking to the Royal College of Nursing, the Health Secretary explained how the new strategy will work, explaining intentions for offenders to be prosecuted quickly as a result of new partnership between the NHS, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as steps to ensure care inspectors scrutinise NHS trusts on quality of plans to reduce violence against staff.

The plans also entail better training for staff to deal with violent situations, including challenging circumstances involving patients with dementia or mental health issues, and a new system so that staff can record assaults more easily.

Hancock said: "NHS staff dedicate their lives to protecting and caring for us in our times of greatest need and for any one of them to be subject to aggression or violence is completely unacceptable. I have made it my personal mission to ensure NHS staff feel safe and secure at work and the new violence reduction strategy will be a key strand of that. We will not shy away from the issue – we want to empower staff and give them greater confidence to report violence, knowing that they will see meaningful action from trusts and a consistent prosecution approach from the judicial system."

Kim Sunley, Royal College of Nursing National Officer, said: "Nurses and health care workers understand their roles aren't risk-free but - to many - it still seems as if the threat of physical violence is a daily reality. These measures are another way to change this for good by increasing the accountability of employers for the safety of their staff, and ensuring those who wilfully assault healthcare workers feel the full force of the law."

Jacalyn Williams, a national officer for health with the union Unite, added: “This initiative to combat violence against those who work in the NHS is welcomed, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Unite will be monitoring the government’s actions against this growing and very unpleasant phenomenon that is blighting such areas as A&E departments to see it follows through with its new tough zero tolerance policy.”