NHS moves to tackle stalking after staff trailed and harassed

SCOTLAND'S biggest health board is to become the first in the country to consider drawing up a stalking policy.

The move by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), which has more than 44,000 employees, follows a number of incidents where episodes of unwanted and intrusive contact has been made with staff.

These have involved individuals being trailed or followed, secretly photographed and harassed, with physical damage to their property.

Dr Anne MacDonald, a consultant forensic psychiatrist and member of the working group, said: "Stalking is not something that just happens to celebrities or as the result of a broken relationship.

"It is something that all staff whether or not working directly with the public can face and is an issue that needs to be tackled.

"It is totally unacceptable that any of our staff should have to face and endure the trauma of being stalked and our stance is very much one of zero tolerance to this kind of abuse."

According to the Network for Surviving Stalking, more than 1.2 million women and 900,000 men are stalked in the UK every year.

The health board has set up a top-level working group, including Strathclyde Police domestic abuse task force, to prepare new procedures to tackle stalking of NHS staff in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The working group is already considering a number of protective actions to support staff who are being stalked including mentoring, the training of line managers to recognise and manage the risk, a "buddying-up" system when an individual is going about their work, and looking at GPS tracking technology.

Setting out its aims, the board said: "At present an incident may not be flagged as stalking in reports. Having a policy will raise awareness of the issue amongst staff, managers and human resources personnel and provide guidance around how it can be identified and safely managed."

Ann Moulds, the founder of Action Scotland Against Stalking who was stalked by a man for more than three years, welcomed the move.

She said: "Stalking is a growing problem in society and one that the public sector is going to have to tackle.

"Employers have a duty of care and at the moment stalking is not properly recognised. But it does affect them, as it raises the issues of absenteeism, people going off work with stress and potentially losing their job because they are being stalked. The fact that GGCNHS have put this policy in placeis fantastic."

Reacting to the announcement, a Scottish Government spokesman said: "It is up to NHSGGC as the employer to deal with issues such as stalking, but we will monitor this pilot scheme and await its findings with interest."