Society welcomes measures to reduce violence in phamacies
Moves by the NHS Security Management Service to reduce
violence against pharmacy staff in England (PJ, 5 November 2005, p568) have been welcomed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Practice Committee.
The committee was pleased to note that front-line pharmacy staff are
among those able to take advantage of the conflict resolution training
and other practical support offered by the NHS SMS to NHS staff at risk
of attack from patients or customers.
The committee also agreed to recommend to the Society’s English
branches that they should invite local security management specialists
to speak at branch meetings. The NHS SMS aims to have a local security
management specialist (LSMS) in every primary care trust by the end of
this summer, responsible for the investigation of security incidents,
liaison with police and the implementation of systems to protect NHS
staff.
The Practice Committee also noted the importance of using a proper incident
reporting or record keeping procedure to log security incidents. It hopes
that a specific reporting form will be developed for use in pharmacies
when the national reporting scheme for physical and non-physical assaults
is extended from secondary to primary care from April.
The committee’s chairman. Sid Dajani, says: “Community pharmacists
across Britain deal with millions of patients and customers every day
and the Society welcomes the fact that they will be given support to
protect themselves, their staff, premises and stock from violent or aggressive
individuals. Conflict resolution training is a good first step but pharmacists
should also be thinking about other security measures, such as personal
alarms for staff and incorporating windows or panic buttons when designing
consultation areas in their premises.”
Welcoming the Society’s interest, an NHS SMS spokesman said: “Conflict
resolution is the biggest training programme ever developed by the NHS.
Pharmacists are on the frontline of patient care in the NHS and need
similar levels of protection to other staff.”
The NHS SMS training centre arranges one-day conflict resolution training
courses, held at local venues. The NHS SMS has also developed guidance
for lone workers, which may be of interest to community pharmacists.
Further information is available online at www.cfsms.nhs.uk
Information on tackling violence is also available in the most recent
Community Pharmacist newsletter,
published with the 26 November 2005 issue of The Journal. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal