Violence high in mental health units
Urgent action is needed to tackle the high levels of violence in mental health and learning disability units, says the Healthcare Commission.
According to a new study, 80 per cent of nurses and 41 per cent of clinical staff had experienced violence or threatening behaviour while working in care units.
The Healthcare Commission’s national study, conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists also found that a third of inpatients and 18 per cent of visitors also reported threatening behaviour or violence.
Substance misuse is cited by the audit as the number one trigger of violent or threatening behaviour. Other triggers were lack of staff or inexperienced staff, lack of security facilities and overcrowding within the units.
Professor Paul Lelliott, director of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ research unit hopes something would now be done.
He said: “The audit confirms just how challenging it is to work in mental health residential settings. However, it is encouraging that, after 20 years of relative neglect, there is now recognition in all parts of the health service that something must be done.”
Professor Lelliott added: “Despite the problems illustrated by the audit, we were struck by the dedication and enthusiasm of front-line staff of all disciplines and the extent to which they were committed to working with service users to improve safety.
“This must be built on: Unit managers must be given back the authority to manage their wards, and the support and resources required to improve the physical environment, and nurses must be freed from unnecessary paperwork so that they can spend more time on the ward working face-to-face with patients, providing better care and creating a safer environment.”
Chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, Anna Walker, said that the figures were “deeply worrying” and accepted that more needed to be done to protect both staff and patients.
Ms Walker said: “This audit gives us hard evidence on an area of growing concern. It suggests that while community services have been really important, more attention must be given to inpatients. Nobody must take their eye off the ball.
“We will build on the findings of this report by refining the way we assess the performance of mental health units. There is plenty of good work going on. We’ve got to ensure best practice becomes standard practice.”
Unison said the results came as no surprise and were the result of decades of underinvestment leading to a “seriously dangerous environment for patients and staff”.
Head of health Karen Jennings, said: “The mental health and learning disability services are the ‘Cinderalla’ of the health service, under-resourced and overlooked.”
“Unison calls on Patricia Hewitt to respond urgently to the continuing rise in violence and to take urgent measures before someone else is hurt or abused.”
Alex Nagle, director of NHS Security Management, said that he was working closely with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to tackle the problem and violence would not be tolerated.
Mr Nagle said: “The NHS SMS, along with NIMHE, has also developed a training syllabus on non-physical intervention techniques for those working in mental health and learning disability settings. Following trials in the summer, it will be implemented throughout the NHS.
“It focuses on raising awareness, prevention, de-escalation techniques and cultural awareness sessions. Its aim is to give staff the skills required to confidently and lawfully recognise, prevent, de-escalate and manage potentially violent situations.”
