(Photo: Steve Parsons/PA)
Hard-working Accident and Emergency staff at Whittington Hospital have been abused by patients and those waiting to be seen up to 390 times in one year alone.
In figures released by Whittington Hospital in a Freedom of Information Request, the worst time period in the past five years for assaults on staff was 2010/2011. There were four assaults with a weapon on staff, 179 cases of aggressive behavior, 21 instances of physical violence, 55 verbal assaults as well as one racial attack and three sexual insults.
The A&E department is staffed by 182 consultants, doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and administration staff, with around 30 members on staff at any time.
The total figure of abuse for 2010/11 was over double the amount recorded the year before, which registered only 173 instances of abuse compared to the 390 of 2010/11. Whittington Hospital believe this spike in attacks recorded is due to an increase in staff reporting incidents, rather than a rise in incidents.
The year 2012/12 saw an increase of aggressive assaults, rising from 157 cases to 168, and of verbal abuse, which rose form 32 to 46. Both these years saw almost 30 instances of physical abuse and violence.
A spokesman for Whittington Hospital told Islington Now: “The Trust takes the wellbeing and security of our staff very seriously. All our frontline staff are trained in conflict avoidance, which supports staff to have the tools to resolve and avoid conflict, and we have a security team on site 24 hours a day.
“As a last resort, staff are able to withhold treatment from a patient who is persistently violent or aggressive.”
Whittington Hospital clarified that for every incident of abuse, in-house security staff would have been called.
