Denis Campbell’s report on the abuse faced by healthcare staff at a hospital in Nottingham (They bite, they hit, they spit: patients attack staff at hospital in Nottingham, February 25) is unfortunately the reality for many professionals in the healthcare, and Data from the Medical Protection Association suggests that staff shortages and long waiting lists fuel this behavior.
We should not accept that abuse is now part of the job. Experiencing and witnessing physical, sexual or verbal violence can have a lasting and profound impact on mental health, and this can be detrimental to both individuals and patient care. It could also require healthcare professionals to take a leave of absence or even quit medicine altogether.
The zero-tolerance policy towards abuse must be rigorously enforced across the NHS so that healthcare workers feel their safety is a priority and are empowered to report all abuse. The policy must also be visible to patients as a deterrent.
Police and crime commissioners and police forces across the UK should also consider how they can support local healthcare settings – for example by encouraging reporting of abuse and providing practical advice on recognizing warning signs or de-escalation techniques.
More generally, there is a need for research to identify the additional training needs of staff within the NHS for managing conflict and protecting themselves from violence. If we do nothing, we may lose many more skilled, dedicated healthcare workers at a time when the profession can ill afford to do so.
Prof Dame Jane Dacre
Chairman, Medical Protection Association
As health scientists based in Nottingham, we are saddened by reports of increased violence against staff at the Queen’s Medical Centre, where many of our graduates and colleagues work. However, there is a sociological explanation for these increased events that needs to be formulated, and that is the concept of horizontal violence.
When a group of people experience oppression, they may ‘take action’ or fight back among themselves, and public sector workers are soft targets. While unable to shout in the ministers’ faces, a staff nurse or a junior doctor can become an easy target for anger and frustration to be expressed. Never in our lives have we seen the political and social oppression that we have witnessed over the past fourteen years in the form of austerity and cuts to public services.
The cost of living crisis has tipped people over the edge. After years of political oppression, society is crumbling, and with it our sense of gratitude, kindness and decency. Think about the healthcare workers who survived Covid and now have to deal with the consequences of the social crisis.
Dr. Theo Stickley, Dr. Alison Edgley and Prof. Stephen Timmons
Nottingham