{"id":16617,"date":"2018-10-31T13:05:52","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T13:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16617"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:54","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:54","slug":"violence-assaults-nhs-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16617","title":{"rendered":"Zero tolerance"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Violence against NHS staff is a growing phenomenon that last year reached its peak \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one in seven NHS workers reported being\u00c2\u00a0attacked.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The latest shocking figures show that just over 15 percent of health service staff, the majority of whom were A&E doctors, nurses, paramedics and mental health personnel, said they had been assaulted\u00c2\u00a0in the last 12 months — the highest level in five years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The situation has prompted health secretary Matt Hancock to announce a new initiative today (October 31) to combat the rising incidence of violence in the NHS, including a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098zero tolerance’ approach that will see the health service working together with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to reduce assaults and carry out swift prosecutions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNHS 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,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Hancock said ahead of a speech today (October 31) to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) as part of a summit on violence in the health service.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI 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,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will not shy away from the issue \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under the new initiative, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will look at violence as part of its inspection regime, and will identify trusts that need further support in reducing violence. Staff who are victims of violence will be given prompt mental health support, and will likewise be given more training on dealing with violent situations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In incidents of assault where prosecutions are not appropriate such as when perpetrators have dementia, brain injuries or mental health problems, trusts will be supported in giving staff better training and support.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hancock highlighted in an interview this morning<\/a> (October 31) that some health staff wear body cameras to both collect evidence in the event of an assault and to prevent assaults altogether \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a practice which he said should be more widespread.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hancock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s initiative follows legislation that was recently brought into law<\/a> which increases the maximum prison sentence for assaults against emergency workers from six months to one year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer for health Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe called NHS staff \u00e2\u20ac\u015bheroines and heroes\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 whose mission is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bto serve and care for others\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNHS workers do not deserve to be violated and assaulted in the workplace\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, adding that the health department\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new initiative was a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstep in the right direction in the campaign to eradicate violence against NHS workers\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jarrett-Thorpe criticised what he called \u00e2\u20ac\u015bpunitive\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 sickness absence policies that a handful of NHS trusts employ which are detrimental to those members of staff who are victims of assault.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have got to ensure that workers that suffer physical or psychological injury from violence at work are given the support to return to work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite will work with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS employers for the success of the NHS violence reduction strategy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer for health Jacalyn Williams agreed that the new initiative is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwelcome\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 but added that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe proof of the pudding will be in the eating\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite will be monitoring the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Violence against NHS staff is a growing phenomenon that last year reached its peak \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one in seven NHS workers reported being\u00c2\u00a0attacked.   The latest shocking figures show that just over 15 percent of health service staff, the majority of whom were A&E doctors, nurses, paramedics and mental health personnel, said they had been assaulted\u00c2\u00a0in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[905,404,1041],"wps_subtitle":"New anti-violence strategy announced as assaults against NHS staff peak","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16617"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16617"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25747,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16617\/revisions\/25747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}