Hospitals: Guards brought in to cut attacks on A&E staff

Violence against hospital staff is becoming such a serious problem that security guards are being brought in to patrol A&E units and doctors are being issued with personal attack alarms.

Two-thirds of doctors taking part in a recent survey said they believed they were seen as 'fair game'. The study by the Medical Defence Union and medical researchers Medix-uk.com found that 23 per cent had been assaulted in their workplace at least once in the past five years - commonly by drunks or people angry at having to wait.

Geoff Callan, chairman of the Health Facilities Management Association and director of facilities at Milton Keynes NHS Trust, said the threat of violence towards staff was a serious issue for the whole sector.

'Some trusts are having to employ a security presence in A&E departments and we are heading down that road here at Milton Keynes,' confirmed Callan. 'We have to protect our staff.'

Milton Keynes NHS Trust has already installed CCTV cameras in wards, corridors and car parks and trained both nursing and non-clinical staff in how to restrain violent patients.

The government made a pre-election pledge to crack down on people who attack public sector workers, a move welcomed by unions.

'Unison has long argued that anyone found guilty of assault on our members should face the same tough penalties as someone who attacks a member of the police force,' said Dave Prentis, Unison's general secretary.

Last Tuesday, health secretary Alan Milburn announced that persistently violent individuals could see treatment withheld.

Campaigners are pressing for a government charter to protect victims of crime to be extended to victims of workplace crimes.

The deadline for responses to a Home Office consultation about revising the Victim's Charter passed on 15 June), with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) submitting an appeal for the charter to cover workplace crimes. It wants to see the charter extended to cover breaches of health and safety law which have led to injury or illness, including the victims of occupational road crashes.