The Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 creates new offences such as assaulting an emergency services worker. But such a specific offence will not cure violence against NHS staff, says the NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS).
To ensure there are more prosecutions and tougher sentences against those who attack NHS staff, there needs to be better reporting and investigation of assaults in the NHS, as well closer co-operation with the police, the NHS Security Management Service said. The NHS SMS said that good progress had been made in these areas.
By June 2006, new Local Security Management Specialists will be based at every NHS organisation. In partnership with the police, the LSMS will investigate assaults on staff and ensure appropriate action is taken. During a five-week intensive training programme at the NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) Training Centres in Reading or Coventry, LSMS learn investigative interviewing skills and a background in law.
Work is also under way to improve cooperation with the police. The NHS SMS is finalising an agreement with the Association of Chief Police Officers, which will illustrate their commitment to protecting NHS staff from violence. It will ensure that the police, the NHS SMS and LSMSs are clear about their roles when investigating and prosecuting those who assault staff.
NHS SMS also said that sentencing guidelines have now been amended and reissued to magistrates and judges. The new guidelines say that where an offence is committed on a hospital premises or against a public sector employee, these factors should be seen as aggravating factors. This should mean tougher sentences for those who attack NHS staff.
An NHS Legal Protection Unit was set up in December 2003 by the NHS SMS to ensure legal action is taken against anyone who assaults NHS staff. If appropriate, this includes taking private prosecutions in partnership with the relevant NHS organisation.
The National Audit Office said that in 2002-2003 there were only 50 identified prosecutions for assaults on NHS staff. Final figures for 2004-2005 will be available shortly but indications are that there will be a very considerable increase, as a result of the approach adopted by the NHS SMS.
What they say
Jim Gee, Chief Executive of the NHS Security Management Service said: โWe will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the Scottish legislation but believe a specific offence will add nothing. There are already seven offences in place to address the variety of situations involving assaults on NHS staff and a new offence may prove to be less flexible and comprehensive. Detailed hard work is needed to improve the arrangements for reporting, investigating and prosecuting assaults. The NHS SMS has been working with the police and courts to this end and initial results are very positive. The NHS SMS and the Home Office have worked together on this approach. We are both determined to make more effective use of the Criminal Justice System. It will ensure perpetrators of these crimes are made to account for their actions and victims are provided with the support they need. Effective action helps to send out the message that violence will not be tolerated.โ
About the Act
Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 creates new offences such as assaulting an emergency services worker, or someone who is assisting an emergency worker who is responding to emergency circumstances. The Act also creates similar offences in respect of health workers on hospital premises and persons assisting such workers. In 2002/03 there were 116,000 reported incidents of abuse in the NHS (verbal and physical). However, at this time there were up to 20 different definitions of an ‘incident’ which were applied. The NHS SMS took responsibility for work to tackle this problem in December 2003 and began introducing proper, legally based, definitions of violence and a new national reporting system. On 20 January 2004, Norman Hutchins, 53, who in June 2004 became the first person ever to receive a NHS-wide Anti-Social Behaviour Order, was imprisoned for three years for harassing NHS staff and obtaining gowns and surgical masks by deception. He was sentenced on six counts of deception, one count of affray and one count of possession of a bladed article (this count involves Mr. Hutchins threatening a NHS security guard with a knife). The NHS SMS published a national syllabus for conflict resolution training for all NHS frontline staff in April 2004. The Training gives staff the skills to recognise and defuse potentially violent situations. Separate syllabuses for those working in mental health and learning disabilities are being developed by a CFSMS-led group. They will also consider the issue of physical intervention techniques. So far more than 85,000 frontline staff have been trained.
