NHS-I was so shocked by this!

[Yellowdays]

I just read this article in the Guardian. It's really appalling. What a way to have to work, it's like a war zone.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/22/over-half-of-uk-doctors-have-seen-or-suffered-verbal-or-physical-abuse-survey?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

One of the courses we have to go on regularly is how to deal with violent patients. However perhaps the worse thing is that there is absolutely no back up from NHS management.
We had a violent situation in the practice involving physical assault and hostage taking. In such a case , afterwards, patients are supposed to be seen in a secure setting with security guards present.
We informed the local NHS authorities who didn't even reply or ask how I was, or warn other practices or make arrangements for alternative care for patient.
I took it upon myself to inform local practices what had gone on so their staff could be safe although, technically I was breaching patient confidentiality and I could have got into trouble over it.
The patient subsequently attacked someone else.
However receptionists get the brunt of it , they are sworn at and threatened every day both on the phone and in person . People think it's perfectly acceptable to take their frustrations about NHS dentistry on staff who can do nothing about it.
It has got much,much worse since covid.

unfortunately we have some very entitled people that we have to deal with. The majority of people are fine, it’s just the rest that are the problem.

Not unusual to be punched, spat on, urine collection bottles thrown (you do learn to assess moods quickly so you can avoid it as best you can)

My worst was being throat punched and later on smacked across the face. I lost my glasses. Management just ask what we could have done to have avoided it.

The vast majority of my injuries have been from patients who have had dementia or delirium. But when it's those without that hurts worse. You can understand why some people with dementia or delirium would hit out. They are frightened and scared. Doesn't make it right though.

Families I find are worse. The verbal abuse and attempts at intimidation are intolerable. You find yourself documenting hard so if you are hauled in court you have as much information as you can to defend yourself.

I'm not surprised. Didn't you notice how horrible people were to each other during the two covid years? Absolutely awful and entitled behaviour over everything was reported daily.

I am grateful that we have such lovely people who continue to work despite this, and I include retail workers and others who get spat on, hit and harangued just for doing a job.

I've been bitten in the neck by a dementia patient, had to complete an incident report form and that was it. Back to work with a steri strip on my neck.

Had a patient threaten to murder me throughout my 12 hours shift, got so bored off listenng to his threats I tuned them out.

Our training for voilence, was basically don't get yourself in awkward situations. Great advice, when you're a lone nurse visiting patients in their homes.

We have a patient who has made so many nurses/HCAs cry that only 2 members of staff can deal with him. We have to have security to visit him. The managers say report, we report, nothing happens.

Not surprised by this at all

I am a midwife and when I was pregnant a woman kept trying to kick me in the stomach because she was in pain - in labour .

I’ve been punched in the face , spat at, had things launched at my head - all just because .

And that’s just from the women don’t get me started on the partners and visitors 🙄

I’m surprised it’s that low to be honest. I’m a nurse and I’ve been held up by my throat, been punched and told that I would be raped

I'm not surprised. Anyone working in the public sector, dealing with the public face to face will be familiar with verbal and physical abuse. I left local government over 20 years ago and was subjected to regular verbal abuse as a planning officer.
People's attitudes are along the lines of I pay your wages so can treat you how I like.
I know things have deteriorated significantly over the last 20 years.

Not surprised at all.
The worst are the entitled family members.
They are so insanely rude.
The level of entitlement out there is very very high.

Same as @Babyiwantabump - I'm a midwife and when heavily, visibly pregnant, repeatedly kicked in the stomach by a patient. No dementia, psychosis etc, she was just angry about having to wait for her IOL, and I happened to be the one explaining and apologising for the delays. I've also been bitten, and once had a patient ask for a cup of hot tea only to throw it in my face. Colleagues have had their hair pulled, been strangled, grabbed and pushed up against a wall, been spat at.
The majority of patients are lovely, but there are enough who aren't are a large enough minority to make a huge impact on the experience of working on the wards, and on stress and anxiety levels amongst HCPs. And don't get me started on the theft... 🙄

The lack of security for the whole hospital needs to be addressed they have to cover all types of emergencies. I've known there be 3 security guards for the entire hospital its ridiculous.

I can't say it's because of covid it's always been this bad IMO.

Im suprised this actually shocks people. The number is most likely higher and for nursing staff i.e. registered nurses, healthcare support workers it will likely be nearer 100%. As a HCA iv been smacked in the face, bitten, spat at and had urine thrown at me, as well as being groped etc. Most of the abuse iv recieved are from patients with dementia or mental health illness however so I realise it coems from a place of fear from their part.

These stories are awful. My dd left a professional job because she was attacked, twice in one day. I agree it's the minority, but it's completely unacceptable. It seems to be generally agreed that the underlying causes are long delays for care and staff shortages. That doesn't include the dementia patients, obviously.

A partner who badly assaulted a midwife and made regular death threats in one pregnancy was allowed back into the hospital during the next pregnancy and was alone with midwives and his girlfriend regularly. There was also not even a hint that he might be arrested for the first assault. It’s like it doesn’t count if we’re in uniform. That’s just the first incident that springs to mind. The amount of ‘horse whispering’ and deescalation that is required to avoid violence and abuse is frightening and exhausting too.

Some jobs are like this! It happens in many professions

Not sure why you are so surprised?

Never underestimate how horrible people are, especially when they are under stress.

There are also so many conditions that can cause a patient to become violent. When my Dad was in the hospital with alcoholic cirrhosis, he developed a very common condition called Hepatic encephalopathy which is where toxins build up in the brain where the liver is unable to flush then. His personality completely changed - the screamed the most god awful offensive stuff at both workers and patients - other patients families started kicking off and we had to keep apologising and trying to explain what was going on.

Dad was lucky we were there - otherwise there would have been physical violence with not whiff of support in sight.

And this is why I no longer drink. If people knew the potential side effects of long term alcohol use, they wouldnt either.

I’m not surprised by this. We live in a society where everyone’s feelings are constantly acknowledged, even when they’re unreasonable or detrimental to others. Everyone has the right to speak “their truth”. No one can be criticised in any way otherwise you’re seen as ageist/fattier/racist/diss list, etc, etc,. Children in schools can’t be told off for poor behaviour without parents storming in so they’re being brought up to be utterly self-centred and demanding. Into this perfect storm, drop in the fact that mental health services are so underfunded and there you go. It’s all very sad. There was a time when everyone had a bit of self respect with regard to how they behaved but that time seems to have passed.

*disableist that should say

I worked in MH for many years. I've been hit, kicked, spat on, had various things thrown at me. We've never had security and often our only "back up" is staff from other buildings on site who might be dealing with their own incidents.

The worst time was when I was an HCA, on my own on a unit night shift with 5 patients, nearest staff were 1 nurse and one other HCA on the other half of the unit with 15 patients through a locked door. Patient with Schizophrenia and LD attacked me with no particular trigger, had been happily watching TV 5 minutes earlier, ripped out handfuls of hair, gave me a black eye and was doing her best to strangle me before anyone got there to help. No police action due to lack of capacity.

@Harebrain 🔨 nail 👩‍🦲

There’s masses of under reporting too, as we brush it off as ‘stressed families’ and have empathy for the waits and the organisational chaos. But it contributes to the NHS burn out.

l was recently screamed at, and accused of being a murderer on two separate occasions by a family whose adult daughter in her 20s was over 2 months on our ICU with complex unsurvivable complications, and as a multi disciplinary team we were broaching palliation discussions with family. I totally got how stressful it was for family, and brushed off the abuse and finger jabbing, as did my colleagues too (who all remained calm), but only when I mentioned what happened to my family that night, who were utterly horrified, that I realised how normalised we are to being screamed at.

Only half?!

I work on a wonderful ward and I am absolutely confident in the care that our patients receive.

We have a lot of dementia patients to care for which is challenging but by far the most difficult people to deal with are entitled relatives who think they know better than Drs, demand to see Consultants immediately, think it’s acceptable to come in big groups and winge if their Dr is female!!

Unbelievable but luckily most people are wonderful and I have my faith in human nature restored most days.

This is just horrifying. Everybody should be safe at work.
What happens to the people who attack the staff? What could be done? On one hand they need access to healthcare but what would a reasonable adjustment be?

Fucking hell.

People need to be arrested and prosecuted hard for thing like this.

I am so sorry about all these stories.

Humans can be such arseholes.

The only part that shocks me is it's only half. I would've bet money that every single patient-facing person has been on the recieving end of verbal aggression at the least. Lots of people are horrible and lots of the nice ones are snappy and rude when under stress.