The Society of Radiographers has shared its concern after radiographers and other healthcare professionals at a trust in Teesside have seen a 32 per cent rise in violent attacks from patients.
More than 800 members of staff across University Hospitals Tees, which incorporates South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, have experienced some form of assault from patients, relatives or the public in the course of their duties.
In response to the news, the trust has launched a poster campaign in hopes of tackling the abuse.
'Concerned but sadly not surprised'
Rhys Martin, health and safety policy officer for the Society of Radiographers, expressed concern and regret over the abuse.
He said: “The Society is concerned, but sadly not surprised, to hear of examples of increased violence and aggression incidents in NHS workplaces. As a trade union we continue to work to support our representatives to hold employers to account on how they protect their staff from the risks of violence and aggression.
“Our safety representatives continue to demand for thorough and concise risk assessments to be in place around risks to workers health and personal safety. Our safety reps also attend safety committee meetings trust-wide and negotiate workplace policies alongside those in industrial relations rep roles.”
He emphasised that the onus is “ultimately” on the employer to protect workers, but the SoR will support safety representatives and members to hold employers to account who are failing to put processes in place to support staff.
'More needs to be done'
The Society works with NHS employers, the Health and Safety Executive and other trade unions, to improve workplace guidance and push organisations to take action when appropriate.
It has also worked with personal safety charity the Suzy Lamplugh Trust on similar issues, helping to protect staff working without a colleague nearby.
Mr Martin added: “More needs to be done on protecting staff and alongside our trade union colleagues we will continue to push for action.”
'A real problem'
Dean Rogers, executive director of industrial strategy and member relations, emphasised the work the SoR has done to challenge NHS employers to do more to protect their staff.
He explained the NHS staff survey results and SoR’s Workforce Experience surveys have highlighted this issue as a “real problem” across the UK.
The SoR is part of Unite the Union’s Get Me Home Safe Campaign, which calls for extension of employers’ duty of care to embed safe transport home policies for all workers, among other requests.
He said: “[We] will continue to press employers to do more to secure the safety of their staff. We recognise that for many patients attending hospital can be very stressful and if people are waiting longer for appointments this will increase tensions, but we can never and will never condone violence against any members in their workplace."
Minimising risk and stress
Mr Rogers added that the SoR recognises that some patients may have challenges communicating, and aggression could arise from problems of patient experience.
He said the SoR is “doing a lot of positive work” identifying and promoting positive initiatives in areas such as neurodiversity, in order to help minimise the risk and stress for patients as part of training and are promoting positive practice.
Meanwhile the Society is training reps and supporting initiatives that highlight aggression towards staff being unacceptable.
He said: “We expect employers to press for prosecutions where patients demonstrate aggressive racist, sexist or other discriminatory behaviours towards their staff.”
(Image: Rhys Martin)