Police 'failing' staff attacked by patients, say health bosses

A serious assault on a nurse at Walsall Manor Hospital last Saturday night by an inpatient – after which a 35-year-old woman was cautioned – is the latest incident in a series of violent attacks in the last year.

There were 156 incidents involving patients abusing health workers between April 2014 and March this year.

Now bosses at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust have issued scathing criticism of West Midlands Police for a lack of criminal action against offenders.

Board member Nigel Summers CBE, said: "We are being let down by the police, in this borough there have been no successful prosecutions.

"I want the police to explain themselves, these are physical and racial assaults and this is not acceptable.

"Police are not doing their job. At junior level, staff feel it is almost part of the job to be subject to abuse from patients.

"They are fairly robust about it but over time it starts to wear them down.

"This has a de-grading effect on an individual if they feel they have to put up with violence or threats.

"It does affect absence rates."

He added: "The police are letting us down so we should do that job for them and seek private prosecution."

Kathryn Halford, director of nursing, claimed the problems were only getting worse.

Eight red card 'exclusion letters' have been issued to patients who have displayed violent and aggressive behaviour to staff, effectively excluding them from trust premises for a 12 month period, with the exception of accessing emergency treatment.

Seven yellow card warning letters have been issued to patients where their behaviour has been abusive or threatening to staff, during the past 12 months.

Six red card letters had been issued in the last four months, and five yellow card letters in the same period.

"We are seeing an increase in assaults on nurses and a rapid rise in the number of yellow and red cards," said Ms Halford.

"There have been more yellow and red cards given out in the last four weeks than there have been in the last year.

"There was a nasty assault on a nurse last weekend on one of the wards. The police came and she is going to prosecute. There has been a sea change. It used to be people in A&E subject to attacks, but now it has moved into the wards and into the community.

"There are some members in the community who can't be seen now unless there are two members of staff."

The latest incident comes in the middle of the trust-wide Respect Us campaign launched at the start of July.

As part of the awareness drive, A&E worker Tracy Pettifer has told of her experiences on the wrong end of abuse. The 49-year-old from Bloxwich has been physically attacked twice in her 28-year career. The first incident was eight years ago when she was grabbed by the hair and punched.

She said: "He fractured my cheekbone and my eye swelled up so that I looked like I'd been in a boxing match."

Ms Pettifer added: "The second attack was last year and involved a man who had been taking MCAT – Mephedrone.

"He knocked me into the wall and punched me in the mouth splitting my lip.

"I had better support this time and a taxi was called for me so I could go home to recover.

"If you can't give them the response they want or solve their issue they release their pent up anger against you and it's terrible."

Between April 2012 to March 2013 there were 497 assaults reported on NHS staff in the West Midlands and Staffordshire.

A total of 147 were reported at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust during the period, of which 126 involved medical factors – up from 97 the year before.

West Midlands Police spokeswoman Gina Lycett, said: "Assaults on NHS staff, nurses and doctors will not be tolerated and we continue to work with Walsall Manor hospital to ensure their staff can carry out their duties in safety. We take reports of assault extremely seriously."