ABUSE in Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan hospitals is on the rise as almost 1,000 NHS staff are being physically assaulted every year. 

A total of 977 incidents of physical assault – mainly involving nurses, healthcare support workers or nursing assistants – were recorded by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board from 2018 to 2019.

That year there were a further 348 incidents where staff were threatened with physical violence, and 63 instances of psychological abuse including bullying and harassment.

Health board staff were also verbally abused 468 times, racially abused 34 times and sexually abused – including harassment and indecent exposure – a total of 35 times, according to health board records.

Instances of physical and verbal abuse of Cardiff and Vale NHS staff had risen from the year before.

A Freedom of Information request shows that from 2017 to 2018 there were 931 physical assaults and 454 incidents of verbal abuse recorded.

The health board says most recorded events are related to patient medical conditions with some within mental health and elderly wards related to dementia.

There is work ongoing to provide patient warning markers on dementia wards to minimise this.

More NHS staff throughout Wales are also reporting abuse. A national survey in 2018 found 21 per cent of staff said they had personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients or the public, which was up from 16 per cent in 2016.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) says it is aware of an increase of harassment and abuse towards its members.

Helen Whyley, director of RCN Wales, said: “We are aware that harassment and abuse from members of the public and patients continues to increase in Wales according to the latest NHS Wales Staff Survey.

“The health boards have a responsibility to ensure a zero-tolerance policy is in place to prevent abuse of their staff. In addition, staff must feel that they are fully supported when reporting incidents of harassment and violence.”

Last year a new law came into force which doubled the maximum sentence from six to 12 months in prison for assaulting an emergency worker.

The RCN says it’s “closely monitoring” the effects of the new law, which also says courts must consider the strongest penalties for other offences against emergency workers – such as GBH and sexual assault.

In 2018 to 2019, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board spent £1,203,000 on staff costs for its security teams.

This includes employing security guards, as well as management and administrative support.

The health board also says the security team has “a much wider role” than just dealing with incidents of staff abuse.

There has been a 23 per cent reduction in the number of incidents during the past five years as compared to the previous five years, the health board said.

A spokeswoman said: “There is a case manager who provides support to staff across the university health board.

“In the emergency unit, for example, pre case management we were recording greater than three events per week and had over 30 lost time incidents per year.  [The unit] is now averaging one assault every three weeks and no lost time events over the year.”