Just read that a paramedic has been successful in charging her patient for sexual assault and it got me thinking...

[Andvent]

How many of us actually just put up and shut up? What are our rights?

Have name changed as this is something I've already talked a lot about at work lately.

I'm an AHP in a hospital. I have been shouted at and had lewd remarks and been touched inappropriately by patients. Each time it has happened, I've reported it to the ward manager and my own manager. I don't know what happens after that. My manager asks me if I'd want a colleague to join me in future sessions with that specific patient but then I see other services continuing to work alone with that particular patient on the ward. Some of these patients have capacity and some don't. Should my hospital be doing more to protect staff and to protect vulnerable patients? There is a lone working policy on the intranet but that seems to apply more to staff going out and visiting patients in their own home.

The story I refer to (sorry, cant link on my phone) is about a female paramedic who accused her patient of sexual assault after he groped her bottom while she was treating him in the back of the ambulance. He is now on the offenders' register.

This has happened to me lots of times and I've just put up with it because someone might have acute or longstanding cognitive issues. I get angrier when I'm yelled at by patients with full capacity. I don't know if that fair or not but I'm trying to be honest here.

Can I ask what should actually be getting done to protect staff? No one seems to know that I have asked and lots of my colleagues just put up because we are working mostly with patients who have dementia. I cant see any other policies on the intranet relating to this. I'm not saying that we should be going to the police or anything but this story today has fired me up a bit more to just not sit back and accept this as part of my job anymore.

Would be grateful for any advice as I have a line management meeting soon and wish to raise this again and hopefully make some progress with a solution this time.

[daisychain01]

My manager asks me if I'd want a colleague to join me in future sessions with that specific patient but then I see other services continuing to work alone with that particular patient on the ward.

Some of these patients have capacity and some don't. Should my hospital be doing more to protect staff and to protect vulnerable patients?

You need to focus primarily on what you were subjected to by the specific patient. Document everything in minute detail: patient name, time, date, circumstances, what they did, and submit it formally to your line manager then insist they investigate according to the hospital policy.

They have gone some way to enacting their policy by asking you if you want to be accompanied, as that would provide a witness. If this isn't enough to eliminate the problem, the formal route takes it to the next level.

You shouldn't feel threatened or humiliated in the workplace when you're trying to do a good job of caring for patients, it's horrific being scared of assault so you have my deepest respect for continuing to care for those people.