Attacks on Medical Staff Unacceptable

The Workers Union is calling for an end to physical attacks on medical staff calling them completely unacceptable.

COVENTRY, WEST MIDLAND'S , UNITED KINGDOM, September 20, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The announcement comes after multiple news reports revealed the extent of the abuse.

In this month alone, there have been numerous headlines about violence and aggression towards NHS staff. Newcastle hospital reported more than 900 acts of physical or verbal assault between June 2020 and July of this year – a quantum leap of 17 percent on pre-COVID levels.

However, the chief executive of Newcastle Hospitals Trust, said that recent times have seen a ‘new uptick in violence and aggression’. Elsewhere the picture looks equally disturbing, with reports of 2479 assaults on staff in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, and South London GPs experiencing increasing levels of confrontation with their patients.

The Workers Union on Stopping Attacks on medical NHS Staff

Speaking in detail about the attacks, The Workers Union’s chief spokesperson, Johnathan Morgan, said: ‘It seems unfathomable that this organisation, which counts many of our brave NHS workers amongst its number, should have to go on record as condemning this contemptible behaviour. But that is the reality of our COVID-hit times.

‘Patients unable to access services are on a short fuse. As tax payers perhaps they believe that their National Insurance contributions can underwrite miracles. Yet a glance at the news reveals the real world pressure our NHS is under. The latest figures say that there are 5.6 million people waiting for hospital treatment. And this is with billions of pounds of additional investment that the government has sensibly ring-fenced to help clear the backlog.’

As well as censuring those that threaten, abuse or physically attack NHS workers, Mr Morgan was keen to stress that taking a short-term view of the situation will do nothing to improve working conditions or the patient experience:

‘It would be easy to fool ourselves into thinking that this is just some flash-in-the-pan phenomenon confined to the fag end of COVID restrictions. The reality is we are dealing with a sinister, long-term trend that has its roots in factors that go way beyond the pandemic.

‘While politicians rightly castigate the perpetrators, the presence of this convenient myopia buries the truth about underinvestment in patient services and obscures the need to provide additional emotional and mental support for NHS workers.

‘To improve the situation for everybody, we need a cogent plan that addresses the root causes of patient dissatisfaction. But by the same token, we must not forget the terrible human cost to those who suffer verbal and physical attacks in the course of carrying out their duties. Violence is never an acceptable response to frustration and those that consider it a legitimate way of coercing others to meet their demands must be dealt with in the strongest possible terms.’

Johnathan Morgan
The Workers Union
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