400 assaults a week on healthcare workers 'just the tip of the iceberg'

Published on Tuesday 25 September 2007 00:05

MORE than 20,000 attacks against NHS staff are reported each year in Scotland, figures obtained by The Scotsman reveal, suggesting verbal and physical abuse of doctors, nurses and other health service workers has reached record levels.

The figures, revealed under Freedom of Information laws, show an average of 400 staff a week in Scotland report being the victims of violence and aggression.

The actual figure is likely to be much higher since information from health boards does not include attacks on GPs and their staff and ambulance workers.

The shocking statistics come after Dr Helen Jackson, a Glasgow GP, was stabbed three times in the stomach while working in her surgery last month. She is recovering at home.

The Scottish Government has pledged to look at extending the Emergency Workers Act to toughen sentences on people who attack health staff, including GPs and those working in the community.

Medical leaders expressed dismay at the level of attacks, blaming a growing lack of respect for staff trying to help people.

Figures seen by The Scotsman suggest that about 20,800 attacks a year are reported to Scotland's 14 health boards. This compares with about 18,000 reported in previous years and is higher than figures from the Scotland Occupational Health and Safety survey of 2004, which estimated that two NHS staff were being attacked every hour.

Some of the rise may be due to increased awareness and reporting of attacks and verbal abuse. But experts believe many incidents go unreported, meaning the figures collected by health boards may represent only the tip of the iceberg.

GPs, as independent contractors employed by health boards, are also not obliged to report attacks to a central database, making it impossible to gauge the true extent of the problem.

The figures show that staff working in mental health are among those at greatest risk.

Dean Marshall, chair of the British Medical Association's Scottish GPs committee, said a significant number of incidents of violence against staff would go unreported. He blamed the rising number of attacks on declining levels of respect.

"We have gone from a situation where society used to respect professions such as doctors and teachers to a situation where there is little respect," Dr Marshall said.

The Scottish Ambulance Service saw 290 attacks on staff last year. A spokesman said all staff were given training on how to deal with aggression.

The Royal College of Nursing also condemned attacks on NHS workers. Theresa Fyffe, the RCN's Scotland director, said: "Healthcare staff have the right to work without fear of abuse."

Shona Robison, Holyrood's public health minister, said:

"In recent years more than 500,000 has been committed to projects aimed at reducing the risk of violent incidents."

GP 'DISGUSTED' BY SENTENCE

DR IAIN Proctor expected the man who assaulted him while he was on a home visit to a patient last year would be sent to prison. Instead, his attacker was put on probation and given 80 hours' community service.

The Dundee GP still suffers anxiety as a result of the attack in November last year, and described the sentence as "disgusting".

Dr Proctor was on a home visit during the weekend shift when he walked into the patient's house and was attacked without warning when the man emerged and head-butted him in the face.

"It has made me anxious and wary. It just makes you feel more unsafe when you see patients," he said. "It is harder for me to do home visits."

He said doctors had come to expect violence and abuse in the course of their work. "We are always getting verbally abused. In an inner-city practice you tend to get more verbal abuse. At least once a fortnight I am verbally abused by a patient."

He said he had not been impressed by the sentence handed down to his attacker. "I thought it was pretty disgusting that you can attack a doctor and not be put in jail," he said.