Over the past three years, staff at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital have faced nearly 3,300 attacks from patients, alongside hundreds of violent incidents between staff members themselves. The hospital has recorded 127 staff-on-staff violence incidents in the last financial year alone, raising concerns among hospital leadership about workplace safety.
In total, there have been 442 episodes of aggression and violence between staff over the last three years, alongside 3,295 patient-related incidents. To address these alarming figures, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is launching a new report, support, and learning system by the end of the first quarter this year. This system aims to streamline incident reporting and ensure swift action is taken.
Key measures to reduce violence include comprehensive de-escalation training and the deployment of body-worn cameras in the hospital’s highest-risk areas. The trust has secured funding for 18 cameras: six are stationed in the Emergency Department (ED), six at the porters’ lodge for security personnel, and two each in three other identified hotspots. Additional departments may acquire cameras as needed.
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Footage from these devices has proven invaluable for providing reliable evidence, which is shared with the police to pursue appropriate action against offenders. The Emergency Department remains a primary hotspot for abuse, aggression, and violence, prompting the trust to allocate additional dedicated security resources.
Interestingly, about half of the violent incidents involve perpetrators—patients or visitors—who are deemed to have capacity at the time. Weekly reviews by a behavior standards panel assess each incident carefully, taking into account mental and physical health, safeguarding concerns, and ongoing clinical complaints. Based on their findings, the panel can issue behavior warning letters or impose conditional behavior orders.
Importantly, patients retain the right to respond through the hospital’s complaints process, ensuring fairness while prioritizing staff safety.