The Health Secretary has announced steps to help protect NHS staff from abuse. These include new measures to encourage staff to report incidents to help ensure information is collected at a national level.
Data will also be analysed to better understand if certain staff groups - whether by race, gender, disability status, or role - face disproportionate risks, allowing trusts to protect the most vulnerable workers.
The measures are part of a range of recommendations accepted by the government under the Agenda for Change contract - which covers over a million frontline NHS workers - following the agreement of the 2023 pay deal.
Violence against healthcare workers has become a critical issue, with the 2024 NHS Staff Survey revealing that one in seven experienced physical violence from patients, their relatives or other members of the public.
A quarter of NHS staff experienced at least one incident of harassment, bullying or abuse in the last 12 months. Many incidents currently go unreported, hampering efforts to address the problem systematically.
In a keynote speech to UNISON’s National Health Care Service Group Conference in Liverpool, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, said: "No one should go to work fearing violence. Yet one in every seven people employed by the NHS have suffered violence at the hands of patients, their relatives, or other members of the public.
"Protecting staff from violence is not an optional extra. Zero tolerance for violence and harassment of NHS staff. It’s a commitment to make sure healthcare workers can focus on saving lives without fear for their own safety. I owe my life to the NHS staff who cared for me through kidney cancer. I owe a debt of gratitude that I will never be able to repay, but I certainly intend to try. You were there for me, and I’ll be there for you."
The package of measures will also address longstanding issues around ensuring staff are paid correctly for the work they deliver. Staff being routinely required to work beyond their job description with no compensation has led to a number of local disputes, such as those relating to clinical support worker roles in the Midlands at Kettering General Hospital and University Hospitals of Leicester.
The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with NHS England, NHS Employers and the Staff Council to implement a national digital system to support the fair and consistent application of the Job Evaluation Scheme.
This will ensure staff are placed in the appropriate pay band recognising the skills and knowledge required for the role.
Further measures include:
- enhanced career progression support for nurses such as more learning and development, leadership training and career coaching for managers
- new guidance for employers on how to recognise overseas experience on appointment into the NHS and share best practice on recruitment and selection processes
- steps to reduce reliance on expensive agency workers by making it easier for NHS staff to take up flexible working and developing good practice guidance on working patterns for existing staff
- encouraging six-month career reviews tailored specifically for ethnic minority nurses to identify progression pathways and provide targeted interview preparation support
In total, 36 recommendations have been accepted by ministers. These measures are expected to have a considerable and positive impact on the NHS workforce, improve staff morale and enhance recruitment and retention.
Commenting on the measures, Professor Dame Jane Dacre, Medical Protection Society (MPS) President, said: “Experiencing or witnessing abuse from patients - whether physical, verbal or sexual - can have a lasting and profound impact on mental wellbeing and this can be damaging for the individual as well as for patient care. It can also result in healthcare workers needing to take time off or even leaving medicine.
“MPS has long called for rigorous enforcement of the zero-tolerance policy to abuse and steps to help encourage the reporting of abuse, so healthcare workers feel it is taken seriously and not considered just ‘part of the job’. We have also called for research to ascertain the training needs of different staff groups across the NHS for dealing with conflict.
"The measures announced by the Government are positive and we hope they are implemented with some urgency. If we don’t act quickly on this, sadly we may lose many more skilled, committed staff at a time when the profession can ill-afford it.”
