Cash injection aims to reduce assaults on health workers

The government is to spend £97 million on measures to protect NHS staff from intimidation and violence.

Announcing the boost to the NHS’s security budget last month, health secretary Alan Johnson said: “Over 58,000 NHS staff were physically assaulted by patients and relatives in England in 2005-06. This is completely unacceptable.”

Identifying NHS staff working alone and in the community as being particularly at risk, Johnson announced that almost a third of the extra cash — £29 million — will be spent on 30,000 safety alarm devices for lone workers.

In addition to having an audible alarm function, the Department of Health says the devices will “help locate the user and link to a trained individual who can summon help if needed”.

The remaining £68 million will fund a range of security measures to reduce violence and abuse, including more prosecutions of members of the public who attack health workers.

Although the number of prosecutions has increased substantially in recent years, from 51 in 2002/03 to 850 in 2005/06, it is still too low compared to the number of assaults that are reported.

Last year’s NHS staff survey revealed that 28% of workers in ambulance trusts had experienced physical violence from patients or their relatives in the previous 12 months, as well as 11% of staff in acute trusts and 6% of those in primary care trusts.