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On 18 February 2009, the Auditor General for Wales published a report (Protecting NHS staff from violence and aggression: an update) which follows up on progress made since the Auditor General’s 2005 assessment of this problem and a subsequent report released in 2006 by the Assembly’s Audit Committee.
The report details evidence which suggests that steps taken following earlier published reviews are having a positive effect on tackling the problem of violence towards NHS staff. These steps include the establishment of a ministerial task force in October 2007 to set standards relating to the protection of staff plus the appointment of director-level ‘champions’ from each NHS Trust in November 2008 to take forward the task force’s key recommendations.
The report notes that, three years on, some of the Audit Committee’s concerns still remain. For instance, while staff typically report serious cases, they are still not reporting all incidents of violence and aggression. The report also finds that while many health bodies are developing further actions to prevent and control violent incidents - such as trialling higher-quality CCTV cameras in accident and emergency departments to aid police by increasing numbers of successful prosecutions and enhancing training for security staff - many are still not in place. For example, not all trusts have provided the right levels of staff training to those who need it.
The Assembly Government, health bodies and other partners are now developing better ways of supporting staff after violent incidents and trusts are working more effectively with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to tackle the perpetrators of such offences.
Protecting NHS staff from violence and aggression: an update