Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce rates of violence experienced by front line healthcare workers; and what assessment they have made of the effect of such violence on staffing levels.

In January 2021, and in conjunction with the Social Partnership Forum, NHS England developed and published a national Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard. This supports employers in their efforts to provide a safe and secure working environment for National Health Service staff, with a focus on risk management, training and support for those impacted by incidences of violence or aggression.

£8.4 million has been invested into the ambulance service sector to explore the efficacy of body worn cameras in reducing violence and abuse. All ambulance trusts are now trialling cameras and an independent evaluation is underway with a final report expected towards the end of 2024.

In 2022, the Government legislated through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act to double the sentence for assaults on emergency workers to a maximum of two years.

We do not currently have a national mechanism to assess the levels of violence and aggression in the NHS on staffing levels. NHS employing organisations have a duty of care to support the health and safety of their staff and they do collect data on incidents. This is used to inform local strategies for reducing and dealing with violence and aggression.

The NHS Staff Survey does ask questions relating to incidences of violence, harassment, and abuse. The 2022 NHS Staff Survey indicated that 14.7% of NHS staff have self-reported that they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence from patients, service users, relatives, or other members of the public in the last 12 months.