London’s NHS Trusts paid more than £3million in compensation for staff claims of assault against them over the last five years, data revealed.
According to an investigation by Legal Expert, NHS Trusts across London paid a total of £3,046,811 in damages after settling 159 NHS staff assault cases between 2013 and 2019.
However, legal experts claimed that the total number of incidents reported to NHS Resolution, the legal arm of the NHS, is much higher.
Legal Expert solicitor Patrick Mallon said: “Nobody should have to feel threatened at work, especially hard-working, vital NHS staff.”
The data echoed concerns which have arisen since the recent assault on a nurse at Royal Oldham Hospital’s acute medical unit (AMU) at approximately 11.30 pm on Saturday 11 January.
A nurse in her 50s faced life-altering injuries and was hospital she was stabbed with a dangerous instrument which, according to Greater Manchester Police, was not a knife.
A 37-year-old man was charged with attempted murder and the possession of a bladed instrument.
In total, the NHS paid £20,763,095 in damages across all of its trusts in the same six-year period, settling 1,017 NHS staff assaults claims ever since 2019.
Out of the 236 claims, the highest number of claims were made against Mersey Care NHS Trust in the North West.
The trust had 122 incidents and claims reported to NHS Resolution.
Of the London Trusts, West London Trust paid the most in compensation, settling 17 staff assault claims for a total of £539,923.
However, Legal Expert stated that in the last five years, West London Trust has had 42 incidents and claims of staff assaults which were reported to NHS legal services.
South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust follow, settling 20 claims with £522,659 in damages, with a total of 33 incidents reported NHS Resolution over the last five years.
Legal Expert also revealed there were at least 41,226 physical assaults on NHS staff working in hospitals in 2023, which was an increase from the previous year and rose 21% since 2019.
The data demonstrated that, out of all departments of the NHS, the ambulance sector was the worst affected, with nearly 50 percent of paramedics stating that they have experienced physical abuse.
Senior Royal College of Nursing (RCN) officer Paula Delaney said: “Every day, RCN members go to work to provide the best care possible for patients and it’s completely unacceptable for them to be attacked or abused in the workplace.
“Our members, who have reported an increase in violence and aggression towards them in the workplace, are telling us this: there is a rising trend in attacks on nursing staff.”
“The violence and abuse received by our members points to wider, systemic issues in the NHS, including long wait times and inadequate staffing. Put simply, the nursing profession is in crisis.
“All of this is having a knock-on impact on patients and their families, increasingly resulting in frustration, violence, and abuse towards nursing staff.”
Delaney added it was only the tip of the iceberg, and that there was no national data collection of physical violence or abuse faced by NHS staff.
Mallon said: “While claiming against medical bodies like the NHS can seem daunting, such claims help highlight the issues and hopefully start the conversation that leads to change to ensure no staff members ever fall victim to physical or verbal abuse in the future.”
More data is available via Legal Expert’s full research.
Picture credit: Free to use from Unsplash
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