Only 7 per cent of attacks lead to criminal action in Worcestershire

Attacks were suffered by ambulance staff, acute hospital staff, those working in community hospitals and those working in the field of adult mental health across the county in 2014/15.

The number of assaults on NHS staff across the county rose from 583 in 2014/15 to 676 in 2014/15, bucking the national trend which shows a slight fall in the number of assaults.

Despite the high volume of assaults only 46 (less then 7 per cent of the total) led to some form of criminal sanction, of which 44 were secured by the West Midlands Ambulance Service.

Only one criminal sanction was secured by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust which manages Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester and only one by the Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust which manages mental health services.

Criminal sanctions may include but are not limited to cautions and conditional cautions, community rehabilitation or punishment orders, conditional discharges, fines, fixed penalty notices, imprisonment (including suspended sentences) and restorative justice.

The figures for reported physical assaults against NHS staff in England were released this week, provided by all NHS trusts in England and collated by NHS Protect.

Staff have been kicked, punched, spat at and had a knives pointed at them said a spokesperson for the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust which recorded 231 physical assaults against its staff in 2014/15.

This is a rise from 207 physical assaults in 2013/14.

However, since then (April to September) which are not covered by these NHS Protect figures there has been a rise in physical assaults of 30 per cent to 139 incidents, branded 'disgusting' by ambulance chiefs.

The number of verbal assaults also rose by 13 per cent to 246 incidents reported.

Trust chief executive Anthony Marsh is to write to the chairs of magistrates benches across the region asking them to take the toughest possible action against members of the public who assault trust staff.

Mr Marsh, said: “It is quite outrageous that our staff are having to put up with such violence."

At Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust there were 120 assaults against staff in 2014/15. They reported the same number of assaults the previous year.

Meanwhile Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust reported 325 physical assaults in 2014/15, up from 256 the previous year.

The trust runs adult mental health and learning disabilities and manages the county's five community hospitals in Malvern, Pershore, Evesham, Tenbury and Bromsgrove.

A spokesperson for the acute hospital trust said: “As a trust we will not tolerate any incidents of physical or non-physical assault against our staff, who are simply here to do their job and care for patients.

“NHS staff work hard to provide patients with the best possible service and we will support them and do our best to protect them from those who are violent and aggressive.”

There have been 67,864 reported physical assaults against NHS staff in England in 2014/15 (a small reduction of 819 from 68,683 in 2013/14).

Criminal sanctions following reported assaults increased slightly in the same 2014/15 period to 1,679 (up by 30 from 1,649 in 2013/14) and have increased noticeably since the pre-2004 period.

2014/15 is also the first year that civil and administrative sanctions have been reported (there were 1,077). There were 14 across Worcestershire, eight reported by the ambulance service and six by the acute trust.

Richard Hampton, head of external engagement and services at NHS Protect, said: “No NHS staff should be physically assaulted and we encourage staff who are victims of violence to report it, so that appropriate action can be taken."

The 2014 NHS staff survey showed a possible 34 per cent non-reporting of incidents of violence (albeit a lower percentage than the previous year), so it is reasonable to assume some under-reporting of physical assaults say NHS Protect.