The signing of a new three-way agreement between the NHS, Police and Crown prosecutors is expected to help the authorities take tougher action against individuals who assault health-care workers.
NHS Protect – the health organisation’s security body – has signed a joint agreement with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) aimed at developing closer working relationships in tackling violence in the NHS. All parties will encourage individual Police services, CPS areas and NHS bodies to seek the strongest possible action against offenders.
The most recent statistics, released last year by the NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) (NHS Protect’s predecessor), showed that the total number of assaults against health-care staff rose by 3.6 per cent – from 54,758 to 56,718 – between 2008/09 and 2009/10, albeit against a similar percentage increase in staff over the same period. Declared sanctions also increased – from 941 in 2008/09 to 1128 in 2009/10.
The new agreement replaces the existing memorandums of understanding between the NHS SMS and ACPO, and the NHS SMS and the CPS, and is intended to improve communication between the parties. An NHS Protect spokesperson told SHP: “The new agreement aims to make it easier for the three organisations to work together. It is designed to reduce the associated bureaucracy with sharing information.”
Commenting on this aspect of the agreement, Chief Constable Brian Moore, ACPO lead for violence and public protection, said: “We are committed to working together as a three-way partnership to facilitate exchanging information and good practice in securing NHS property and assets. We will also share ideas on potential weaknesses in systems and controls. Though each organisation has a distinct remit, their roles do overlap, and we will work to support each other more effectively.”
The agreement also recognises that improvements in joint working may be required when handling incidents involving individuals with mental disorders. The agreement explains: “Cooperation is essential not just to deal with the offender and support the victim, but to seek to reduce levels of violence in order that the majority of patients receiving mental-health services – who are not violent, or abusive – can receive care in a safe and therapeutic environment.”
Highlighting the impact that violent incidents can have on patient care, Richard Hampton, head of Local Support and Development Services (LSDS) at NHS Protect, said: “This welcome agreement ensures that the commitment made at the top of our three organisations is put into practice locally, so that we act together to support NHS staff, who have a right to a safe and secure working environment. Violence and abuse against them is highly disruptive for the delivery of treatment to patients and cannot be tolerated.”
The spokesperson clarified that clinical assaults – where an individual has a mental-health problem – are reported but not prosecuted.
Stressing the importance of the agreement in reassuring staff that violent incidents will be prosecuted wherever possible, senior policy advisor at the CPS, Pam Bowen, added: “NHS staff do a very difficult job in challenging circumstances. If they are subjected to abuse or violence during the course of their work, they deserve to know that offenders will be prosecuted wherever possible. This agreement should reassure health-care workers across England that such abuse will not be tolerated and that their own welfare is just as important as that of the patients they treat.”
UNISON welcomed the agreement but warned that more needs to be done to prevent assaults in the first place.
Its head of health, Christina McAnea, said: “There should be a zero-tolerance approach to violence, with cooperation between staff unions and management to create a safe working environment. Government cuts to the HSE mean that they do not carry out proactive inspections and this takes the pressure off employers when more needs to be done to cut violence.”
The Joint Working Agreement can be viewed at: http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Documents/SecurityManagement/Joint_Working_Agreement_between_ACPO_CPS_NHS_Protect.pdf
