There were 351 reported incidents of abusive, aggressive or inappropriate behaviour in 2024, up from 275 in 2023.<\/p>\n
Figures for 2025 have not been finalised but are up on 2024\u2019s total. <\/p>\n
The harm to staff has been both physical as well as verbal, including punching, bruising, scratching and pinching, as well as threatening behaviour and intimidation.<\/p>\n
Dermot Mullin, director of operations at Health & Social Care, said it operated a zero-tolerance policy towards violence, aggression and any form of abuse directed at healthcare workers. <\/p>\n
\u2018Protecting our staff is a priority, and we will pursue legal action against individuals who commit serious incidents, including prosecution through the courts,\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n
\u2018We are unwavering in our commitment to staff wellbeing. All employees have access to clinical supervision and resilience-based support, ensuring they are equipped to manage the challenges of frontline healthcare. <\/p>\n
\u2018In addition, we are in the process of embedding a network of trained mental health first aiders across the organisation to foster open conversations about mental health and to provide clear pathways to appropriate support.\u2019<\/p>\n
He added that to further strengthen the approach, HSC was looking to recruit a violence prevention and reduction adviser. <\/p>\n
\u2018This role will lead a comprehensive review of our current training, education, and staff support systems, ensuring that our workforce is protected, prepared, and empowered to deliver safe and compassionate care,\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n
\u2018Violence and aggression will never be tolerated. HSC stands firmly behind its staff and will take decisive action to safeguard their safety, dignity and wellbeing.\u2019<\/p>\n
Jersey has recently run a campaign to highlight this issue, with staff there reporting more than 450 incidents of verbal, physical, racial or sexual abuse in the first eight months of 2025.<\/p>\n
The NHS has also been running the \u2018No excuse for abuse\u2019 campaign for over five years. In 2024 more than a quarter of its staff experienced at least one incident of harassment, bullying or abuse.<\/p>\n
A nurse was hit with a crowbar in a Merseyside hospital last week in a shocking incident. <\/p>\n
A man was arrested on the scene on suspicion of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. <\/p>\n
Mr Mullin said islanders could see a similar focused campaign and it was something that would be considered in a forthcoming review.<\/p>\n
Health authorities in Jersey relaunched their campaign which features photos of staff members\u2019 children and the tagline of \u2018My mummy\/daddy works here \u2013 please keep them safe\u2019, just before the festive season over concerns that Christmas and New Year brought a spike in incidents.<\/p>\n
However Mr Mullin said there was no current evidence to believe Guernsey saw a similar increase in incidents against health workers during the festive season. <\/p>\n
Statistics from 2024 showed no notable increase during December and January, compared with the rest of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were 351 reported incidents of abusive, aggressive or inappropriate behaviour in 2024, up from 275 in 2023.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-389510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}