One of the first motions passed at UNISON’s national health care service group conference, hosted in Edinburgh this week, called for greater protections for NHS workers who face violence at work.
Becky Anstead introduced the motion on behalf of the East of England ambulance service, which has one of the highest records of violence in the UK.
“All too often, our crews are being subjected to abuse, threats and violence simply for turning up and doing our jobs,” Ms Anstead said.
In 2023 there were 1,455 recorded attacks on staff in the East of England ambulance service. This was an increase of 18% on the previous year. Of these, 362 were physical assaults, 522 verbal assaults, and 571 were non-physical abuse (intimidation and gestures).
“We go to work to help people, we don’t go to work to be hurt by people,” Ms Anstead said. “Though lots of incidents go unreported every year because it’s deemed to be part of the job.”
Supporting the motion, Sarah Davies, branch secretary for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health branch, described her colleagues being “spat at and screamed at” by members of the public. She cited the statistic that one in seven NHS staff were physically assaulted in 2024.
“If that happened in any other sector, it would be a national scandal.
“Violence is not part of our job, and violence is not what we’ve signed up for. We refuse to let that be treated as a normal.”
Another delegate speaking in support of the motion described being ‘stabbed with a broken biro pen’ and having to be escorted to her car by security out of fear.
“Zero tolerance isn’t working,” she said. “Posters around the hospital are ignored by patients and by staff.
“We have to make sure that our staff are supported and protected. We don’t get paid to get beaten up, we get paid to help people.”
The motion, which passed unanimously, called on the Health Service Group Executive to:
- Develop and circulate clear guidance to branches on how to support members in reporting incidents of violence, abuse, and aggression.
- Launch a high profile, union-wide campaign to reduce violence against NHS staff, focusing on raising awareness of the scale and impact of violence across all the nations and which encourages members to report all incidents and ensuring employers and the public recognise this as unacceptable behaviour.
- Engage with NHS employers, NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and relevant regional bodies to press for national standards including consistent incident reporting and data sharing protocols along with legal protections and effective enforcement for staff who suffer violence, and adequate funding for safety measures (security staff, CCTV, safe spaces, de-escalation training).
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