Posted By RP
I feel very strongly on this subject, for personal reasons.

The hospital management (employer, hospital trust, etc) have a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, the health, safety and welfare of those at work.

As you identify, it is impossible to eliminate all forms of abuse in this environment. A & E are an easy target for the aggressive drunk on a Saturday night, or any night for that matter. Our local hospital used to have police officers on duty during the night, but this has been withdrawn last year and replaced by a 'panic button'. Response times vary. hospital security is weak at best, with civilian security staff employed.

Police often try to stop hospitals from taking legal action, they shpuld promote it.

So how should this be tackled to ensure the above.

My thoughts:

1. Security cameras (prominant)
2. Bright lights and paintwork
3. Better security staffing
4. Big 'No tolerance' noticed
5. Door screening, to whittle out the less favourable visitor
6. Safe zones for staff to retreat to in the event of violence
7. Employ police officers
8. Prosecute offenders religiously, no exceptions
9. Convicted people barred from 'free' treatment
10. Then train staff an all of the above.

I can think of many more, but may not be legal

Posted By Jim O'Dwyer
Hi,

Uday, you say that staff have been given "appropriate training in handling of aggression management,etc.,etc."

However, as a training provider specialising in this area, I know that training time constraints mean that time allocated for covering 'Handling Verbal Abuse' is often less than 15 minutes, (even though 'how to handle verbal abuse is quite a complex subject and it's what most delegates want and need to know most!)

Consequently, (although the 'box' has been ticked) delegates don't really learn how to handle verbal abuse when it occurs in the workplace.

It's fairly easy to 'injure' staff with verbal insults - because (like millions of people these days) many of them will be carrying about 95% of negative thoughts about themselves and only 5% positive thoughts and (despite their 'training'), they don't really understand WHY people engage in verbal abuse. So, they take what is said personally and become upset!

How do you reduce the impact of abusive comments?

There's a lot that can be done - but something that's missing from most workplaces and which would really help counterbalance the negativity of abusive clients is, frequent, uplifting praise from their peers and, in particular, from supervisors and line managers. (Costs nothing!)

If you'd like to discuss this subject in depth, please feel free to contact me direct.

Best wishes,

Jim O'Dwyer

Posted By Martin Gray
To spit at someone or to scratch a person is assault and therefore should be reported to the police whether in the emergency department of a hospital or any other place of work or in the street. The police do follow up complaints of assault and this often leads to prosecution of the offender, that is if the injured party wishes to persue the complaint (many are withdrawn or no they do not want any action to follow).

Assault is a criminal offence not H&S.