WHEN violence is directed at hospital casualty staff, it is a telling symptom of a sick society as ALWYN GRAHAM reports . . . WHEN patients turn viciously on the only ones able to help them, it has to be cause for deep concern to all.

That many of the aggressors are drink or drug-fuelled, or suffering psychiatric disorders, doesn't help hospital or security staff.

The situation was highlighted again in last night's Channel 5 What's the Story? programme which returned to the Accident and Emergency department of the Royal Liverpool University Hospital where exclusive closed circuit television cameras revealed a sorry story of violence and abuse towards staff there.

And here in Bolton the programme coincided with the return to work of a casualty sister who had her thumb broken by a patient in the A and E department of the Royal Bolton Hospital.

This news was revealed by Sister Jean Cummings, local steward for the Royal College of Nursing, who said: "The majority of staff on the unit are RCN members. We certainly suffer a lot of verbal abuse and one of our sisters is just back from sick leave after having her thumb broken.

"One of the problems is that the majority of incidents are drug or alcohol related. People are very frequently not behaving as they would normally; it is awful we have to face these things."

Sister Cummings has been on A & E locally for 11 years and during that time has seen a good deal of unwarranted aggression directed at staff, not least a charge nurse faced by a patient carrying an incendiary device; the charge nurse has since died of a heart attack in his mid-40s.

She herself was kicked by two women in an incident on duty and she added: "Women pose a worse threat to female staff than men - they can be very aggressive. But female staff seem to handle aggressive men better. I have never been hit by a man, I am glad to say, but there are some very threatening situations.

But, said Sister Cummings: "The staff are very grateful to the vast majority of patients who are good-natured under difficult conditions. We have plans to expand services and extend waiting and cubicle areas . . . we hope that helps."

The sister who was injured did not wish to be identified, but she said: "I was talking to a patient who, it was thought, may have been a psychiatric patient. He thought that one of the doctors was laughing at him and went to attack the doctor and I intervened." Her thumb was broken in the struggle and she was off work for two-and-a-half weeks, during which time she lost wages through not being available for unsocial hours shifts.

WHETHER she will receive any compensation or not is unclear.

She added: "I have not been injured before, but have been verbally abused many times. It is very stressful. Talking to each other at work does help." As was reported in the BEN, Bolton's A and E nurses are being sent on courses to learn self-defence, while methods of exercising "verbal restraint" are also being passed on. The aim is to prevent violence rather than combat it physically.

There are, too, other security measure in place at the Royal Bolton, but it would not be prudent for hospital staff to disclose what these are.

The sadness is that our hospital workers should have to be protected against the very people they are protecting.

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