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

This, exactly this; well expressed.

@Harebrain exactly! Self respect, good manners and personal responsibility seem to be traits that are missing from growing numbers in our society.

@Lollygaggle

One of the courses we have to go on regularly is how to deal with violent patients.

What kind of things do they teach you? Any tips? what are the key points?

Asking because I sometimes have to deal with someone who has a history of violence...

This is horrific, particularly the lack of action/support from management.

If police action isn’t being taken against those doing the assault from a management level, can you call the police as an individual and report it as an assault in the same way you would if it happened to you in the street? Obviously not that simple if it’s someone with dementia or something but if it’s just a violent person who has launched an unprovoked physical assault?

These people should be being arrested - surely there’s nothing in an NHS contact which prevents people from reporting crimes against them just because they occur while they’re working?

I suspect I’m being naive but this was the first thing that occurred to me - if someone with full capacity kicked me in the stomach especially while pregnant I would call the police immediately, regardless of it happening while I was at work!!

This is absolutely awful. It's also why I always make an effort to send a note of thanks/positive feedback when I use a public service (and the service was decent!), acknowledging what a tough job they have and that their hel/professionalism/efficiency appreciated. It costs me nothing and I hope it might make someone's day a bit brighter, or at least might be something they can share in a future review meeting

We did report and the person was prosecuted for the physical assault and hostage taking. However there was no action taken to alert other healthcare workers other than what I did and the person went on to attack someone else.

The same with other abuse , we can ban patient from practice , involve the police but all that happens is they then go elsewhere and attack someone else.

This is terrible to hear. I remember when I was in hospital giving birth and the Dads were allowed to stay all day on the ward. There was a new father, with his partner who had just given birth and he was horrible. Really aggressive to her and staff, and kept using the toilet that was just for the patients. It was an insight into other peoples lives, almost like you were living with these people during the hospital stay. I was in for 5 nights.
As a vulnerable, bleeding, emotional new mum, I did not want to be around this aggressive, peacocking male.
The staff and patients, need protection from aggressive and rude people.
And, when did a trip to A&E become a family day out?? Seen that quite a lot as well, whole family turn up en masse.

It’s ok though as people clapped for us on a Thursday evening during lockdown 🙄

We did have some customers who were banned from physically coming into the office. They could phone or email. We had others who were ineligible for home visits due to violence from them. For some the word 'no' doesn't exist. Hearing it just sets them off.

The first thing is don't put yourself in a position of danger , always try to have someone else with you . Have alarms , handheld alarms and immediate alerts on computer systems and practice what will happen if one goes off. Try not to be alone with a patient in a room.

Have signs up to say zero tolerance of violence /abuse etc

No screens or anything separating reception from patients as tends to escalate violence.

Keep anything that can be used as a weapon locked away or out of sight. Easier said than done in a dental setting.

Watch body language so you can see when things are escalating .

Acknowledge patients frustrations and feelings , keep them informed about delays etc. Apologise early , if necessary .

Ask if they understand that shouting/threatening/swearing makes people feel intimated etc

Then , worst of all, what to do if physical violence occurs , which is basically give yourself time to run.

The majority is how to read the signs that people are losing control , not dismissing their complaint/concern , keep calm yourself and avoid getting into dangerous situation in the first place.

Fucking hell, kicking pregnant woman in stomach 😮

You only need to read threads on GP receptionists on here 🤷‍♀️

vast majority are only doing their jobs but so may people seem to think that if they do anything other than smile and do what you want they’re some sort of horrific dragon thinking they’re god.

and that’s mumsnet, where the demographic is generally leaning toward MC educated.

Ha, that's true. I remember thread where OP was outraged, because GP surgery was closed for lunch and they don't take calls at this time. Because you know, medical and clerical NHS staff are not allowed to ear or have a break at work.

I would have at least one aggressive patient in every night shift. There are a lot of interventions you can put in place but that's much more difficult when you are overstretched.

The hardest for me is people withdrawing from alcohol because they are so physically fit and sometimes all I can do is pull the emergency buzzer or run out the room. When I was pregnant I was assigned to 1 to 1 nurse a man who that morning had bent an inch thick iv pole to a 90° angle.

My hospital's security is there to protect the building not the staff, they will not attend a callout for an aggressive situation. Interestingly it's the only hospital I know in my country to have a member of staff stabbed in the car park after her shift in recent years.

A patient with a personality disorder bit my colleague and yanked out her (very long, beautiful) hair. It was quite obviously a targeted act of jealousy as colleague is very attractive and the patient has low self-esteem. Police heavily leaned on colleague not to pursue it because they felt bad for the petite female that turned on the waterworks the second they arrived.

Another pregnant colleague kicked in the stomach by the same patient and had PV bleeding. Deliberately targeted her bump. Patient definitely had capacity and showed no remorse.

Had a pen thrown at me by a family member. Daily have dementia patients grab, pinch me etc. Worst recently was a woman who was end of life (so had my deepest sympathies) jabbing me in the chest with her finger and saying her whole family would sue me personally if I didn't get her home to die that exact minute. We were waiting for a complex care package.

I spend most of my days apologising for social care. Patients who've had entirely free surgery and aftercare, don't thank you for any of it, and complain bitterly that they have to get out of bed and exercise, then complain bitterly that they aren't signed off by physio to go home that instant, then complain bitterly that they can't go back to their house without support because last time they tripped over a rug and broke their hip in 3 places.

All day all you get is complaining.

It's no wonder we don't have enough staff in hospitals ☹️

100% A close relative for many decades worked in face to face environments and it was the same back then because of this and it has only become worse over the years. Police not going out to car thefts only giving you a crime report number for example. Violence becomes more acceptable because of cuts and having to show we’re managing the situation or we’re better than other or as good as other schools, organisations, etc, so that funding doesn’t disappear.

This is absolutely shocking. These sort of people should also be arrested and charged with assault. Oh and they also need the shit kicked out of them.

I agree it’s absolutely vile. Saying that I wasn’t too sad when my pregnant school bully got hit.She wanted a rude boi but then she gets angry when one gives her a smack so that’s a bit on the silly side 🤔

Even if the person used to bully
you, it’s pretty horrid to
imply they deserve to
be hit by a partner when pregnant

But you were five? You didn’t have a clue what was going on so you can’t really compare it to a woman in labour kicking a pregnant midwife in the stomach, as a pp has commented! That woman knew exactly what she was doing and what the consequences could be!

Same as the man with full mental capacity who punched me in the face knew exactly what he was doing too!

Another patient wrestled him off me and pinned him to the ground while we were waiting for security, I’m forever grateful to that man.

Well now she knows how it feels. Hopefully that was a lesson to her. She threatened to come and attack me when she was pregnant (total disregard for her unborn child I might just add) so she deserves everything she gets.

I've worked as a nurse in A&E for 20yrs. Abuse and violence from patients under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol is one thing, and while not acceptable is relatively easy to mental deal with.
The relatives who shout, intimidate and threaten violence against staff are much harder to cope with. I totally understand the frustrations they feel, believe me I hate the state of emergency care at the moment. But threatening to punch me in the face does not magically create a bed on a ward

@JusthereforXmas the people on this thread sharing their experiences of abuse are clearly not talking about being attacked by children 🙄.