Posted By Jim O'Dwyer
Hi again!
Here is my case for saying a resounding "No!" to the proposals.
The NHS Security Management Service is proposing the introduction of new legislation that criminalises certain kinds of disruptive, nuisance behaviour and provides for offenders to be removed from NHS Premises and also fined (up to £1000).
Three examples are given in the Consultation Paper of the kind of behaviour that the proposed new legislation will target:
1. Someone not needing treatment but pestering staff and disturbing patients.
2. A group of teenagers with no reason to be at the hospital, but being loud and refusing to leave.
3. A person with no reason to be at the hospital, creating a mess and smoking after they have been asked to stop.
Examples of incidents:
• A mental health trust in the north of England has encountered problems with an ex-service user who, after discharge, consistently returns to the premises, without good reason and not requiring medical treatment, causing a disturbance and nuisance to staff and other service users.
• A large acute trust recently had problems in dealing with a large group of individuals attending a hospital with a family member. The group persistently ignored no smoking signs, created mess in the toilets and caused a nuisance to other visitors and patients.
• A Local Security Management Specialist within a health body told how he and his security staff often felt like ‘toothless tigers’ when waiting for the police to attend and remove nuisance individuals: “The police are under constant pressure to deal with serious incidents. When we request assistance in the removal of individuals, more often than not this is a low-profile police response and we can end up babysitting these individuals for hours before we are able to remove them with police assistance”.
Since, existing legislation appears to already authorise the removal/ exclusion from NHS Trust premises of people who behave in an unacceptable, disorderly, disruptive way, the only ‘additional power’ that seems to be being proposed is the ability to fine offenders. This process will have to be administrated through the Criminal Justice System and require evidence of the offence to be made available to the court. Enforcing the new laws will present great difficulty for NHS Staff - probably to the extent that the ‘new power’ (like the existing Yellow/Red Card Procedures) will rarely if ever be used.
There may be some deterrent value to being able to say “If you behave in this way you could get ejected from the premises and fined up to £1000”. But, do you think for one minute that the people referred to in the examples above would have moderated their behaviour as a consequence?
If like me you answered “No”, you’ll probably also agree with me that there is so little to gain by “criminalising” the kind of low level nuisance behaviour referred to that it’s not worth doing and I hope you’ll echo my view that the proposals should be dropped.
By saying “No!” you’ll be helping to prevent a waste of a lot of money and you'll also be protecting our civil liberties.
Something you should be aware of is that similar legislation to that being proposed by the NHS SMS already exists for the education sector.
Section 547 of the Education Act 1996 (c.56) created an offence of nuisance or disturbance on school premises with a related power, exercisable by a person authorised by a local education authority, to remove a person committing the offence.
(The NHS SMS say that although there are no national statistics on the use and impact of this legislation within schools, it is understood to have helped create a deterrent effect in some areas against such behaviour.)
If the NHS SMS’s proposals are carried through to become law, the next bodies to apply to criminalise nuisance behaviour will be likely to be Councils/Local Authorities, Passenger Transport facilities, etc.
And, based on the existence of the legislation for our schools and our National Health Service, refusing its introduction will get more and more difficult – until ‘low level, nuisance and disruptive behaviour’ becomes a criminal offence in all areas.
The next step might well be that demonstrating opposition to anything through passive (i.e. non violent) resistance would become outlawed!
That wouldn’t be in the public interest!
Well, would it?
What could be done instead?
There is no single solution unfortunately – since every situation will be entirely unique.
However, the Consultation Paper has highlighted a need for the NHS Security Management Service to once and for all clarify the legal position and the ‘options’ available to Trusts to take in the event of nuisance, disruptive behaviour onsite.
Local Security Management Specialists should know what the ‘available options’ are and be able to offer guidance to the Person Responsible at the premises.
(Note: Although the Consultation Paper proposes that the LSMS be appointed as the Person Responsible, it is extremely unlikely that Trusts will authorise LSMS’ to be the decision maker. The justification would probably be, because a ‘medical’ opinion would be a necessary part of the decision making process.)
Staff should be informed about why some people behave in a way that represents a nuisance and/or causes disruption to services to others and trained to anticipate problem behaviour and respond appropriately (i.e. with particular regard to the sufficiency of the resources to hand to implement Trust Policy.)
The NHS SMS should also act as a ‘consultation resource’ for Trusts to contact in the event of particular difficulties with patients or visitors behaviour – and not hesitate to refer situations outside their experience to external consultants.
Best wishes,
Jim O’Dwyer