Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that NHS staff who are subjected to violence in the workplace are offered support in the aftermath, including counselling and group debriefing.

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work without fear of violence or abuse.

In 2024 NHS England updated the Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard, which is available on the NHS England website, to support organisations to take action to prevent and reduce violence and abuse against NHS staff, including by empowering staff to take appropriate action to keep themselves and others safe. This has been made mandatory as part of the 2026/27 NHS Standard Contract.

The Department and NHS England are working with NHS Employers and trade unions to strengthen support for staff in the NHS workplace by improving security, ensuring cases are reported and investigated, providing better training for staff on de-escalating and dealing with incidents, as well as enhancing post-incident support for staff.