To think someone with an assault conviction shouldn’t be working for the NHS

[PillockLarkin]

I had to go to the A&E department in my local town at the weekend. I was really surprised to see a man who I know has a conviction for Assault by Beating working at the hospital as a porter. I don’t know him but went to school with him and remember it being reported in the papers, it was about 6 or 7 years ago.

I understand that having a criminal conviction does not preclude you from working from the NHS but I was thinking that would be for a less serious offence, like unpaid parking fines or something.

I doubt he could have faked a DBS check so must have declared his conviction to the hospital and been allowed to work for them.

I’m all for second chances but I’m really surprised that someone can work the NHS despite having a criminal conviction for violence. AIBU?

My ex was a carer and convicted of assault by beating against me and the next day against my dad so 2 seperate charges as it happened twice and he still continues to work in the care sector 🙃

I think someone like him probably has a wealth of life experience that will be relevant to dealing with all walks of life good and bad that he will come across
I’d sooner be pushed around someone who’s fucked up been convicted and got themselves on a better path rather than a self righteous judgemental arsehole

I know that it's a demonstrable fact that they will have been offered the job ahead of someone who had zero criminal history. That's just maths.

Lots of vulnerable adults have jobs themselves. Your be ruling out a hell of a lot of jobs if he is to never be anywhere near someone who’s vulnerable.

Cant even be a delivery driver. Could end up in a vulnerable persons house bringing in their parcel or shopping.

Warehouse? Quite a few adults with learning difficulties can end up in them. Supermarket again that’s a whole lot of vulnerable people around.

Think of a job where you basically have no contact with the public at all and that would rule out anyone with anything that could make them classed as vulnerable be able
to donate job also. It will be a very short list.

'I'm all for second chances' you're not though, are you.

Porters frequently transport patients alone in lifts, down empty corridors etc at all times of the day or night. These patients are often dressed in pj's / hospital gown and under the effects of medications whit lower their awareness and defences.

I'm not disagreeing with most of what you say, there should eb opportunities and this does reduce the chance of reoffending. But I would prefer the porters pushing vulnerable individuals to not have criminal convictions.

He got the job, so it was obviously not a problem. I have worked with porters who had a hell of a lot on their DBS check.
If he was charged in court, then he would have been under probation for a while and possibly sent on some courses. His employer is satisfied that he is not a risk to anyone.

YABU.

There a huge difference between a conviction at 19 for a fight outside a takeaway on a Saturday night and then settling down and not committing any other offence, against a conviction for hunting an ex partner down and beating her up for being dumped. These are the things that are assessed before employment is offered.

What would you have society do, write him off forever?

What do you honestly think he's going to do?! Mind your own business and move on with your life, just as he has obviously done. I'm sure there's things in your past that you're not proud of so stop judging and condemning others.

Someone has already said if hospitals porters were required to have no criminal records, there wouldn’t be many left. What’s your solution?

And individuals who have committed specified sexual offences or have been found to pose a sexual risk to vulnerable people are often barred from working with vulnerable groups, and this is reflected in their DBS checks. This man hasn’t been convicted of a sexual offence which might make him a risk to patients in semi-undress or on medication.

I can’t handle violence. At all. So, my first reaction was disbelief that a violent individual could be allowed to work closely with vulnerable people.

But what you wrote makes a lot of sense and now I find myself cheering him on 😊

Perhaps the conviction is spent? People make mistakes. Good for him he has been given the opportunity to change and get back on track.

Oh no thats awful, is being a hospital porter your dream job? How many times have you been turned down for the job, it must be galling that you have no convictions but keep being turned down for the porter job. Keep at it. dont let it put you off.

Circs are not always black and white.
I know someone with a conviction for murder. His sister was in a DV relationship. She left. He stalked her. Held her hostage. Her brother told him if he ever laid a finger on her again he would kill him.
He beat her to within an inch of her life. He walked into his house midday and stabbed him once. He knew he would end up killing his sister.
Hes served his time.

I’m all for second chances but I’m really surprised that someone can work the NHS despite having a criminal conviction for violence.

No you aren't "all for second chances". You know nothing about him except for something you read in the papers years ago, and yet have judged him as unfit to work for the NHS. I am glad to see that some employers are not as judgemental and narrow minded as you are.

Well said.

Oh no thats awful, is being a hospital porter your dream job?

I don't look down on it like some people here.

A standard DBS will show all convictions, spent and unspent. The employer then makes their decision on whether to employ based the information given. That’s why it’s important to declare all convictions if the employer is getting a DBS as they will find out. Exceptions include some juvenile convictions.

The spent or unspent classification determines whether or not you have to answer yes or no to the question from a standard employer of “do you have any convictions?”. You can truthfully answer no if your conviction is spent and the employer is not one of the categories who are allowed to request a DBS.

Enhanced DBS is only necessary for jobs working directly with minors or vulnerable adults where you could be unsupervised, or certain jobs in financial institutions. They give all the information of a standard DBS plus other non conviction information considered relevant, such as charges not resulting in conviction, arrests and other information the police have.

It wouldn’t have even been known by his employer here. A 7 year old assault conviction will be spent so he does not have to declare it.

The risk isn't only sexual, assault charges suggest he may have a short fuse and not be best suited to dealing with disorientated people etc. The risk is greater than if he was working in a supermarket etc as it is one to one with vulnerable people as a standard set up.

Safeguarding starts with taking basic steps to limit the opportunity for incidents to occur.

Jobs like this may be low pay but we should still insist that the people doing them are of good character (sorry, old fashioned phrase). That isn't to say that the man with an assault conviction can't be of good character and have turned his life around. It's upsetting but there will be consequences that follow him regardless in order to safeguard from others who haven't changed.

Where a DBS is required then it is never "spent" and will always show on a check.

Some things stay on record forever too. I have a caution that will always show up on an Enhanced DBS.