Posted By David Mains Hi, I work in a healthcare environment and I am currently reviewing our approach to the above. Any mechanism that we look at within our organisation has potential implecations due to the Data Protection Act, Human Rights Legislation and Caldicott Guidelines. It would appear, from the legal advice that we have recieved, that any system that we use will have major resource implecations for us due to the legal requirements involved. I understand that the individual has rights but my main concern is for the safety of our employees. I was wondering if any members have views or experience of introducing tagging systems in the public sectors and any examples of how this can be achieved in a relatively pain free way? Regards, David.

Posted By Bryn Maidment David For 5 years we've been flagging patients on our PAS system. This course of action was agreed by the Trust Board and simply implemented. Any person who acts agressively or is physical has an incident form completed on them. They receive a warning letter from the Chief Exec and they receive a flag. Any staff inputting their name simply gets a window alerting them to the fact that the person is 'known' for something and they need to refer to their patient notes. Working on colour coded borders for the windows now - red for violence, yellow for abuse, green for infection risk etc. Interestingly enough the arguments against tagging seem to come from the civil rights, social care groups who seem to be more concerned about the aggressors than the victims. The NHSLA have backed our stance up too. Human Rights Act, Data Protection etc are taken into account, quite rightly so, but do not stop you from taking action necessary to protect your staff. More advice on this is in the "withholding treatment" guidance on the zero tolerance website. The long overdue guidance reaffirms our stance on banning patients from receiving treatment (from us). Currently 12 patients banned, 42 on a 'yellow card' and a substantial reduction in aggression and violence. Sounds like a result!! Hope this helps.

Posted By Bryn Maidment Sorry but having just re-read Bill's thread is it conceivable that Bill is talking about physical electronic tags such as those attached to the ankles of people out on bail etc? If so that puts a whole different perspective on the response. I can't think of any sane person in a hospital wanting to adopt such a scheme but it would be an interesting concept if the ankle tag was attached to a length of stout chain with a breaker ball on the end of it. Hmm! something to try next year perhaps. 3 strikes and out? No way! Physical assaults are each looked at individually and 30% have resulted in an immediate withdrawal of treatment. After a written letter, one more abusive or threatening incident results in a ban. Robust and brave management it's called!

Posted By John Webster Without my specs today, I first read that Bryn's trust had been FLOGGING patients for the past 5 years. No wonder they have been so successful!!

Posted By Jim Walker I read somewhere about a dog training device that is a collar that slowly throttles the dog when it misbehaves. My wife used to work in A&E and am well aware of the constant abuse these people put up with. I would thoughly support the practice of using such a device. Maybe worth considering Bryn?