Staff at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Hospital Foundation Trust have spoken out once more on the impact of violent behaviour towards their staff with a series of video messages developed and delivered by their own workforce.
Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and administrators switched from their day-to-day roles to star in a host of brief videos highlighting the issues faced by NHS staff when members of the public become violent and aggressive whilst in their care.
The series highlights the thoughts and feelings of Trust staff – how violent behaviour in other every day scenarios would not be tolerated, and should not be within any health and care setting. The first of the clips shows a gym goer who becomes aggressive with a personal trainer quickly fade to a patient undertaking life-enabling physiotherapy.
Filmed in the Cutting Edge salon at University Hospital of North Tees, a second clip shows a client verbally abusing her hairdresser before the situation flips to a nurse dressing a wound in a hospital room.
The aim of the videos is to help viewers understand the rise in attacks, and how they are not acceptable.
The message is clear: You wouldn’t behave aggressively in everyday situations, so don’t behave like that in health care settings.
Helen’s story
Helen Hall, a Trust clinical administrator who acted in the short film set in a gym, experienced what she describes as ‘horrendous workplace violence’.
Helen said: “I was punched in the face.”
She continued: “A long time ago I worked at a GP’s surgery. I was working late and all the doctors had gone out on call. I was the only one in the surgery.
“A patient came in who wanted an urgent prescription. Obviously it needs to be signed by the GP. I explained to him there was nobody in and he didn’t believe me.
“He just leaned through the window and punched me in the face.
“It was a shock and I was scared of what he might do next. And it was just an awful experience. It made me feel very vulnerable and a bit scared of going to work
“Aggression in the workplace happens a lot. People try and keep it quiet, and they don’t like to talk about it. It should never happen.”
Other actors in the short films have also experienced violence, including being held up against a wall by the neck and having a mug of coffee thrown at them, while others have witnessed colleagues being reduced to tears by abusive behaviour from patients.
Watch the videos
You wouldn’t behave like that in a gym
You wouldn’t behave like that in a gym
Title card: This short film features staff from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, all of whom have personally experienced or witnessed violence in the work place.
Credits: Aggressive gym customer/grateful physiotherapy client – Jacqui Ritchie
Personal trainer/physiotherapist – Daniel Steel
Shocked gym customer/physiotherapy client – Helen Hall
[Video shows two people working out with weights. A personal trainer motivates them.]
Personal trainer: All right, yeah, keep going.
You’ve got two more, there’s two more to go now.
Just one more now. Last one to go. Last one.
Gym customer: That’s it. [Video shows customer going to hit the trainer with a weight.]
Title card: You wouldn’t do this in the gym. So don’t do it in our hospital.
[Video shows two patients working out with a physiotherapist. The patients are repeating the motion of standing up for a sitting position, their arms are crossed.]
Physiotherapist: We’ve got three more to go now. That’s really good, this is what physiotherapy is all about.
Patient: This is so hard.
Physiotherapist: You’re doing so well, you’re doing so well. Keep it going.
That’s it. Okay, last one, last one.
Great stuff.
Have a rest there, that’s brilliant.
[The patients sit down.]
Patient: Thanks Dan.
Title card: We have zero tolerance for abuse or violence towards our staff.
You wouldn’t do this at the hairdressers
You wouldn’t behave like that in the hairdressers
Title card: This short film features staff from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, all of whom have personally experienced or witnessed violence in the work place.
Credits: Hairdresser/nurse – Catherine Roberts
Aggressive customer/grateful patient – Cath Simpson
[Video shows a hairdresser brushing a customer’s hair.]
Right, nearly done for you there now. Oh, there’s a bit of a knot there.
[Hairdresser struggles to brush a knot out of hair. Customer stands up and confronts hairdresser.]
Customer shouts: Was there any need for that? That blooming hurt that.
Title card: You wouldn’t do this at the hairdressers. So don’t do it in our hospital.
[Video shows a nurse wrapping a patient’s head with a bandage.]
Nurse: I know that’s really sore isn’t it? I’m just going to wrap this up for you, okay?
You’re doing really well.
Patient: That bit’s really sore.
Nurse: I know, it won’t take long now, okay?
All done for you. Are you alright?
Patient: Thanks for that.
Title card: We have zero tolerance for abuse or violence towards our staff.
Our staff are here to help
Julie Gillon, chief executive of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our staff are here to help. They are hardworking, committed and compassionate professionals. They’re not here to receive verbal or physical abuse.
“They do everything in their power to help our patients and their families and they deserve to be safe while doing it.
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to violent behaviour and abuse towards our staff, or indeed anyone within out Trust. We will report all incidents to the police and will always push for the maximum punishment.”
According to a staff survey 15.2 per cent of Trust staff experienced violent or aggressive behaviour from patients or visitors.
NHS staff report an average of 200 reported physical assaults every day.
Violence against staff has reached its highest level in five years, with one in seven health professionals attacked in the course of their work last year.
The Trust will release more videos in the coming weeks to ensure that their message continues to be heard.
The Trust’s Communications and Marketing team wrote, filmed and edited the videos using Trust locations at no cost.
For more information about violence prevention and the safety of NHS staff, visit the NHS website.
