Assaulted at work (healthcare sector)

[Perimenopausalprincess]

Hi

Looking for help or advice.
Has anyone been in the unfortunate position of being a member of staff who has had to put up with vile comments from male patients and despite reporting has fallen on deaf ears?
Sadly things escalated quite quickly and I've had to work solely alone with a gentleman who has now taken things too far and it's turned to sexual assault. I've reported it via the correct paperwork and channels but despite a couple of colleagues backing me up as they've also had first hand encounters, it's not being addressed as perhaps it should and tbh it's not even being addressed. Not one member of staff above my grade has asked if I'm ok or spoken to me even though they've read the reports and incident logs. I have just been told to ignore the man involved by another staff member to protect myself and have no further dealings, this isn't ideal as other female members of staff are now having to work alone with personal care and bathing of this man which is putting them at risk

Not told my husband and I feel so bad for not but I can't let him know as he will be too worried and his health is poor at the moment otherwise I would have just walked out of work and never returned but desperately need the job as it's our sole income at the moment.

Not mentioned on this post how it's effecting me but I'm in bits just writing this as it's really knocked me sick having to go through this when we should be safe at work and clearly not. Had it not have been a work incident it would be a police matter for sure.
Not sure what I'm asking tbh just maybe that it's not acceptable and an idea of where to turn for help or to report the incident to somewhere external (ideally not police)

Thanks for your time whoever is reading

I hope you gave him a good bloody slap! Absolutely unacceptable and if your management are not dealing with it, contact the police. If he has full capacity it will be treated like any other sexual offence and he will end up in court.

Is this NHS or private sector, OP?

You can’t slap people with Dementia.

If they have full capacity still and deliberately sexually assault you? Yeah you can.

Really, a person with dementia, slapping is also assault

Definitely going to contact ACAS and NMC and union (not yet member of union with workplace)
İt's a private sector nursing facility.

Perhaps dementia shouldn't have been mentioned as the patient isn't in our nursing facility for that, one it's mild and newly diagnosed and has no impact on his day to day understanding and two, nor is it the reason why he's under our care as he's here due to a complete other condition.

He has full capacity and if he wasn't in here he would and could be anywhere in the community probably never even having a dementia diagnosis behaving like a sex pest. So in my opinion and obviously it may not be shared by others, he is a risk and seems will just slip under the radar due to the dementia label. İf he didn't have the dementia diagnosis I'm sure some of these comments would be very very different entirely.

Alright..add on ‘and keep your job’ and ‘not be charged for assault’.

I would report him to the police. He’s probably got previous.

Don't they mention behaviours at handover? We sat in the lounge and went though every resident and made sure all staff knew what was going on, anything new and any deteriorations in behaviours. Especially with new or inexperienced staff.

Not sure what the nmc can do, that's for reporting nurses. Are you in the rcn. Did he physically attack you. What steps has your manager taken to reduce the risk, are they a regulated person.

Never heard of self defense?

But that's the point. These patients don't have capacity. They don't often understand the rights and wrongs of this behaviour. Or any memory of doing it.

He has capacity therefore he knows what he's doing.....report to police it will force management to act.

No one should be working alone with him. It should be 2 members of staff at all times.

If he could be anywhere in the community why is he in a carehome

Will try to respond to several comments at once so bear with me. Trying to reply without giving away Too much information that would out my workplace or myself or this man.

Basically short version.

• yes I was physically sexually assaulted
• He has full capacity (he's not in my place of work as a patient due to his dementia)
• He knows full well what he's doing
• No proper hangovers ever, staff can't leave quick enough. İf it's not documented on the computer or in files it's not happened and nobody knows anything. The place isn't ran as it should be
• I'm newly qualified nurse so new to this nurse position and this environment (private sector)
• Be lucky to get two staff members at any given time, let alone two to one patient sadly. İf an emergency happened we would be closed down.
• This man has most likely been a predator for some time so will be doing a lot of digging.
• Management on the whole haven't responded or acknowledged whatsoever

Unfortunately years ago now my grandfather was that patient, he had a form of dementia but at the time they weren't as clued up as they are now. Initially after there was verbal abuse, he was placed into a single secured room, then it escalated to physical abuse of staff and he was put onto a 2 staff minimum protocol then due to continued inappropriate behaviour towards the women (think grabbing at breasts etc) he was make care only, this stayed in place when he was put into a secure care home until shortly before his death, he never really calmed down despite drugs until days before he died. He was a gentle grandfather prior to his illness

Is there a registered manager? I'd be reporting the carehome for the unsafe staffing levels, poor record keeping,,unsafe handovers and documentation. He should have had a risk assessment on admission, I'd leave, hospitals and carehomes are crying out for trained nurses. What will you do if you discover he's a sex predator with a history, he's still there and the staff are still all at risk. What have management and the owners done to keep the staff, residents and him safe.

Also contact Age UK they are pretty good on such situations

And the cqc, social services if its an unsafe environment, 2 members of staff on duty is unsafe for everyone.

Just partly obscure the identity of any other person ... just I'm case you get accused of data protection issues.
You are not to blame. Hope you are in a union who will sort this out.

You need to report this to the police. It shouldn’t mark your card in your sector - tbh honest it sounds as though they don’t care enough to remember it so I would not let that stop you. No job is worth being sexually assaulted for. Ever. I’m really sorry you’ve been assaulted OP and please get support with that for your own mental health

Yes I think the best option for everyone all round would be fore to report it to the care commission and to take this as high up company wise as well.
No recent care plans have been done nor risk assessments from what I've seen. This man is a huge safeguarding issue as has access to female patients with no capacity nor means to get help if he is to wander into their rooms so others are at risk let alone staff. I feel sick at the thought.

Cqc and adult social services safeguarding team, it's the managers and owners responsibility to ensure staff and patient safety

I worked in social care with an agency. I had to work alone with a man who had another agency too in but the other agency would only go to see him in pairs.

I had to wake him in the morning and twice he tried to pull me into his bed. Another time he grabbed me and said “do you want fucking punched”.
I said to the manager and her reply was “you need more training”…..yeah right I left that day.

This man had capacity, he knew what he was doing and specifically said he didn’t want any male workers.

It wasn’t just me he had done that too either, he had done it to another member of staff who was more experienced than me and was off due to the stress of it all. He assaulted her on more than one occasion and issued threats. He was a nightmare.

I would look through his admission careplan, and his admission care needs and risk assessments. After the assault his behaviour, safety, communication, special needs assessments should have been updated by a trained nurse, was this done and his daily records updated and documented at the time.