Violence in primary care and the community should always be reported to PCTs
It is essential that pharmacists report violence against themselves and their staff so that the NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) can take action to prevent it, Alastair Buxton, head of NHS services at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, said at a press briefing last week.
The briefing followed a meeting of the NHS SMS Primary Care Forum, which
has been established to consider how to protect primary care staff and
professionals. At the meeting, organisations representing all front-line
primary care staff signed an agreement with the NHS SMS to show their
support for the service and to commit themselves to tackling violence
across primary care services.
The agreement follows the completion
of four pilot projects conducted
by the NHS SMS earlier this year (PJ, 19 March, p325) to encourage staff
in primary care to report incidences of violence to their PCTs.
“It soon became apparent during the pilot studies that the importance
of reporting and how to report was not reaching front-line staff,” said
Alex Nagle, director of security management at the NHS SMS.
“By signing this agreement we can promote our role, with the added
influence of professional representative support. This support will also
illustrate
to those working in primary care how important their safety is to us
and that our programme of work is not another flash-in-the-pan initiative.”
The most serious incident reported during the pilot projects was from
a pharmacist in London, who was threatened by a man with a shotgun demanding
dihydrocodeine tablets. The man escaped with the drugs and £350
in cash.
The NHS SMS is aiming to have local
security management specialists (PJ,
11 June, p699) in every NHS organisation by the end of summer 2006. These
specialists will be responsible for investigating security incidents
and implementing new systems to help protect the NHS.
“As more local security management specialists complete their training
and take up their posts in PCTs, the pro-security culture will be enhanced
and the reporting of all
security-related problems, especially violence against staff, will begin
to flow,” said Mr Nagle.
The national reporting scheme for physical and non-physical assaults
currently in place in secondary care will be extended to primary care
from April 2006.
Mr Buxton commented that conflict resolution training is important for
front-line pharmacy staff and that the PSNC has been working with the
NHS SMS on ways of making it available.
He added that pharmacists should consider security measures, such as
windows and panic buttons, when installing consultation areas in their
pharmacies. |
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