NEWS
Community nurses given little or no protection from abusive patients By Christian Duffin and Alistair Kleebauer @alistairbauer Large numbers of community nurses experience physical and verbal abuse at work but few are given personal alarms by their employers, an RCN survey reveals. The survey of more than 1,300 community nurses found nearly half had been subjected to abuse while working in the past two years, and one in nine had been physically and verbally attacks. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘It is horrifying to hear of a worsening situation, and one where people who go to work each day to care for people end up feeling alone, afraid and under attack instead.’
Personal alarms
The survey also found only 13% of nurses had access to personal alarms or lone worker protection devices. Personal alarms became widely available in the NHS in 2009 and were initially government-funded, but according to some nurse respondents, these devices have been withdrawn as part of cost-cutting measures.
Dr Carter said: ‘Sadly, it seems that the safety of staff is something that is subject to compromise when money is scarce. This is an utterly false cost saving. Not only do staff often need time off following physical injury or assault, but the risk of stress and burnout is severe and can continue into long-term absence.’
‘IT SEEMS THE SAFETY OF STAFF IS COMPROMISED WHEN MONEY IS SCARCE’ He added that in 2007, the then health secretary Alan Johnson had promised that every lone worker would be given a personal alarm, which when pressed would alert a call centre that would in turn contact the worker’s base to say there was a problem. ‘Mr Johnson found £70 million and that was put in the system to fund it for two years,’ said Dr Carter. ‘What we know is that most of that £70 million was not spent on lone worker devices. The vast majority of lone workers do not have those devices. That is deplorable.’ The RCN’s survey revealed examples of nurses being held captive
by patients or their relatives. One nurse said: ‘In one specific incident I was locked in a family home and they refused to let me leave. ‘I was there some time and received no call from the office to determine my safety. After the incident there was no follow-up with the family, no additional safety plan and in fact it was down to me to visit again. I took a student for back-up.’ Dr Carter said: ‘More and more difficulties are being encountered and I think it is probably a reflection of society. There was probably an era when it would have been unthinkable to assault a district nurse. ‘If you look at the move for more primary care, care at home and in the community, logic would suggest that unless you have got good lone worker policies and people being supported, then those incidents will arise.’ At RCN congress in Bournemouth last week, 98% of nurses voted in favour of RCN council taking action against organisations that fail to provide sufficiently robust lone working systems to protect staff.
International Council of Nurses president Judith Shamian (pictured) hopes the RCN will rejoin her organisation. The college left the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in 2014 saying it could not justify the £500,000 annual membership fee. But Dr Shamian said, the RCN would pay a maximum of £340,000 if it were to rejoin. In an exclusive interview with Nursing Standard, Dr Shamian said: ‘While the RCN is not a formal member of the ICN, many of us continue to have good links and discussions with the RCN
and we are hopeful the it will rejoin the organisation. ‘The RCN has always been a very important member and nurses in the UK have always been globally minded.’ Meanwhile, ICN chief executive David Benton, who is from the UK, is to step down to become head of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing in the United States. To read the full interview with Judith Shamian go to www.rcni.com
JUN MICHAEL PARK
ICN president hopes to lure RCN back
NURSING STANDARD julyNo1 other :: vol uses 29 no 44 :: permission. 2015 11 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 21, 2015. For personal use only. without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Community nurses given little or no protection from abusive patients By Christian Duffin and Alistair Kleebauer @alistairbauer Large numbers of community nurses experience physical and verbal abuse at work but few are given personal alarms by their employers, an RCN survey reveals. The survey of more than 1,300 community nurses found nearly half had been subjected to abuse while working in the past two years, and one in nine had been physically and verbally attacks. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘It is horrifying to hear of a worsening situation, and one where people who go to work each day to care for people end up feeling alone, afraid and under attack instead.’
Personal alarms
The survey also found only 13% of nurses had access to personal alarms or lone worker protection devices. Personal alarms became widely available in the NHS in 2009 and were initially government-funded, but according to some nurse respondents, these devices have been withdrawn as part of cost-cutting measures.
Dr Carter said: ‘Sadly, it seems that the safety of staff is something that is subject to compromise when money is scarce. This is an utterly false cost saving. Not only do staff often need time off following physical injury or assault, but the risk of stress and burnout is severe and can continue into long-term absence.’
‘IT SEEMS THE SAFETY OF STAFF IS COMPROMISED WHEN MONEY IS SCARCE’ He added that in 2007, the then health secretary Alan Johnson had promised that every lone worker would be given a personal alarm, which when pressed would alert a call centre that would in turn contact the worker’s base to say there was a problem. ‘Mr Johnson found £70 million and that was put in the system to fund it for two years,’ said Dr Carter. ‘What we know is that most of that £70 million was not spent on lone worker devices. The vast majority of lone workers do not have those devices. That is deplorable.’ The RCN’s survey revealed examples of nurses being held captive
by patients or their relatives. One nurse said: ‘In one specific incident I was locked in a family home and they refused to let me leave. ‘I was there some time and received no call from the office to determine my safety. After the incident there was no follow-up with the family, no additional safety plan and in fact it was down to me to visit again. I took a student for back-up.’ Dr Carter said: ‘More and more difficulties are being encountered and I think it is probably a reflection of society. There was probably an era when it would have been unthinkable to assault a district nurse. ‘If you look at the move for more primary care, care at home and in the community, logic would suggest that unless you have got good lone worker policies and people being supported, then those incidents will arise.’ At RCN congress in Bournemouth last week, 98% of nurses voted in favour of RCN council taking action against organisations that fail to provide sufficiently robust lone working systems to protect staff.
International Council of Nurses president Judith Shamian (pictured) hopes the RCN will rejoin her organisation. The college left the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in 2014 saying it could not justify the £500,000 annual membership fee. But Dr Shamian said, the RCN would pay a maximum of £340,000 if it were to rejoin. In an exclusive interview with Nursing Standard, Dr Shamian said: ‘While the RCN is not a formal member of the ICN, many of us continue to have good links and discussions with the RCN
and we are hopeful the it will rejoin the organisation. ‘The RCN has always been a very important member and nurses in the UK have always been globally minded.’ Meanwhile, ICN chief executive David Benton, who is from the UK, is to step down to become head of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing in the United States. To read the full interview with Judith Shamian go to www.rcni.com
JUN MICHAEL PARK
ICN president hopes to lure RCN back
NURSING STANDARD julyNo1 other :: vol uses 29 no 44 :: permission. 2015 11 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 21, 2015. For personal use only. without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
