WYE Valley NHS Trust has set up a task group to investigate violence and aggression towards its staff.

A new survey of trust staff shows harassment, bullying and aggression from the public as up by five per cent over the past 12 months.

The same period saw the number of staff reporting personal experience of physical violence from the public as up by five per cent too.

These figures are taken from a sample of 800 trust staff with a response rate of 43 per cent.

A special task group has been set up by the trust to analyse issues relating to the abuse of staff.

This analysis will be undertaken on a department by department basis.

At its most recent meeting, the trust board backed a zero tolerance stance towards abuse of staff amid concerns that the number of incidents may be under reported.

Evidence gathered so far, however, acknowledges a number of incidents as involving elderly or confused patients showing aggression as a result of their medical condition.

Nursing staff take special training to identify the early signs of this and are taught routines to help calm and sensitively manage patients who are becoming anxious.

“We are here to care for our patients, and sometimes that includes treating patients who can become aggressive or violent due to the nature of their condition,” said Maureen Bignell, the Trust’s director of people and development.

“We understand that this can happen and train staff accordingly to ensure they spot early signs so they can calm down our patients in a dignified and compassionate way.

“However, what is not acceptable is any kind of inexcusable aggression, bullying or abuse shown to staff by relatives, friends and sometimes patients themselves - when it does occur, we will not hesitate to bring in the police,” she said.