A health service body called NHS Protect had collated and published data on the number of verbal and physical attacks on NHS staff in England for many years, but it did so for the last time in 2016, when it published the figures for 2015-16, and was scrapped in 2017.
Barclay restated his commitment to “a new data collection” in a further written parliamentary answer to the Conservative ex-health minister Dan Poulter in September 2018. However, the health minister Will Quince recently confirmed to the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, that the plan had been dropped.
And Labour are, of course, up in arms. When aren't they?
...Labour claimed that “ministers are burying their heads in the sand” on aggression against frontline staff, which has become more common since the Covid-19 pandemic began three years ago.
Gosh, what a shock.
Now, is this the usual drunk, drugged up, mentally ill 'service users' launching these attacks? Or Mr & Mrs Let's All Clap For Them getting to hospital and finding out just how poor a service they've been lionising, perhaps?
“The Conservatives’ approach to violence and abuse against paramedics and nurses is ‘ignorance is bliss’. What kind of protection is that for the heroes of the pandemic?” said Streeting.
What 'heroes', Wes? The ones who danced and sang on TikTok videos while elderly patients with covid were discharged into care homes?
Long waiting times for care appear to be a particular source of frustration for some patients or their relatives.
Reality meets PR and it's not pretty...
Most people think abuse of frontline staff is only swearing, shouting and assault, but in reality, I bet a lot of it is exasperated people simply raising thier voices after feeling they're talking to idiots and getting nowhere
ReplyDeleteWhat Bucko said. It's the weasels get-out. And a demonstration of who has the power.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Bucko. There are a lot of jobsworths, snowflakes and so on.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that we must complain when public services aren't delivered.
I've never seen receptionists as unhelpful, rude, and patronising as the ones at our middle class affluent health centre. And they are surrounded by amateurish little signs saying how abuse will not be tolerated.
ReplyDelete"...but in reality, I bet a lot of it is exasperated people simply raising thier voices after feeling they're talking to idiots and getting nowhere"
ReplyDeleteOh, almost certainly!
"The point is that we must complain when public services aren't delivered."
It's something we're very bad at in this country. And it doesn't seem to be changing, unlike everything else...
"And they are surrounded by amateurish little signs saying how abuse will not be tolerated."
The proportion of these signs to others is a good indicator of how poor the 'service' will be!