Oral - Violence and Aggression in the NHS

I am very grateful for the chance to make this statement on violence and aggression against national health service staff. The topic will be well known to Members, because of our previous debate on this matter. We last discussed this issue in June of this year, when I promised I would take it up with the chairs of national health service trusts in Wales, and I was able to do that the very next day.

Today’s statement arises from those concerns as well as the views of front-line staff who have highlighted issues of violence and aggression with me when I have been visiting hospitals across Wales. I have also taken the opportunity over the past three months to discuss these matters in detail with the staff side and trade union representatives in the health service.

Violence and aggression are such important issues, not simply because such incidents occur on far too frequent a basis, but because the impact of such occurrences is so profound on those affected by them. That is why I repeat this Government’s clear view that any such acts against staff or patients is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This is a zero-tolerance policy.

To give new impetus to that commitment, I am announcing today the establishment of a task-and-finish group, involving trade union representatives and serviced by Welsh Assembly Government staff, to look at a range of issues to improve the protection of staff. I am especially grateful to the Royal College of Nursing for agreeing to second a member to staff to work full time on this project.

I also want to make it clear that the remit of the task-and-finish group will cover not simply hospitals and secondary care, but primary care staff, who also face challenges of this sort, and staff who work alone, where very particular problems can arise. Work has already been undertaken in this area, as well as being rehearsed in our debate in June. I want the task-and-finish group to take this existing work forward, building on what has already been put in place and taking it further.

Specifically, the taskforce will address three key elements. The first is incident reporting. The national health service must ensure that all types of violence and aggression are reported, so that staff feel that their employer is taking all reasonable steps to investigate such incidents and to prevent them from recurring. Consequently, the taskforce will develop a common form of incident reporting, so that we have a uniform practice by the NHS trusts and others, which enables them to provide accurate information and to benchmark across Wales.

The second element will be taking action against the perpetrators of violence. The taskforce will ensure that there are mechanisms in place to take action against anyone who is wilfully violent towards staff or patients. Guidance will be developed to ensure that the national health service has robust systems in place for working with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, to ensure that the perpetrators are dealt with effectively. The taskforce will also look at ways in which information about these perpetrators can be shared across the national health service in Wales.

The third element will be support for staff after an incident. Further guidance will be issued on the measures the national health service must take to support its staff following a violent attack. They could range from physical and emotional to legal support, to ensure that staff feel valued by their employer. I want this work to be undertaken urgently, and will look to the group to provide me with an initial report within three months. It will then be for the Assembly and the Government to see how we can put these important issues into practice with immediate effect in the national health service in Wales.