Ambulance staff most at risk from violence, survey finds

5 Aug 04
The NHS must do more to tackle violence and abuse of ambulance staff, the Healthcare Commission said this week.

06 August 2004

The NHS must do more to tackle violence and abuse of ambulance staff, the Healthcare Commission said this week.

In a detailed analysis of the 2003 NHS staff survey, the commission said ambulance workers were more likely to have suffered violence, harassment or bullying than colleagues in other areas of the health service.

Patients or their relatives had attacked almost a third of all staff in ambulance trusts. More than half of frontline ambulance staff, such as paramedics and ambulance technicians, had endured a violent attack.

The commission added that ambulance staff were more likely to respond negatively when questioned about all aspects of their working lives, including their views on work-life balance, the degree of support from supervisors and training opportunities.

Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker said: 'People who care for everyone's health needs should not have to endure violence or harassment as part of their daily working life.

'We urge NHS organisations to investigate and address these issues and examine the scope to improve work-life balance and reduce work pressure for staff.

'We will continue to assess and monitor the way staff are managed, including how issues of harassment and bullying are handled, as part of our annual ratings of NHS performance.'

Shift workers — about a third of NHS staff — were more likely to be attacked and made the greatest number of errors.

Nurses reported the greatest level of support from supervisors but had high degrees of stress. Managers, meanwhile, reported a high degree of job satisfaction but worked the longest hours.

PFaug2004

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top