Health written question – answered at on 21 June 2005.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets have been set by her Department on reducing incidents of violence against NHS staff.
No targets are set currently for reducing the number of incidents of violence against national health service staff.
In April 2003, the NHS security management service (SMS) was created and assumed responsibility for tackling violence against NHS staff.
The SMS aims to deliver a secure environment for both those who use or work in the NHS, so that the highest standards of clinical care can be made available to patients. Its objective is to deter and prevent such incidences from occurring but, where this cannot be achieved, enable staff to manage these incidents with a minimum of risk to themselves and others.
In November 2003, a comprehensive range of measures were introduced to tackle incidences of violence against NHS staff, both proactively and reactively. The SMS has begun a programme of work to identify the true nature, scale and extent of the problem of violence against NHS staff. Once this work is completed, meaningful and achievable targets for delivering a secure environment for NHS staff will be set.
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