Violence in NHS "unacceptably high"

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - Health staff are facing "unacceptably high" levels of violence, with nearly a half of ambulance workers reporting harassment from patients and their families, a national survey said on Friday.

One in eight National Health Service staff said they had experienced violence from patients in the last year, the Healthcare Commission said.

"NHS staff deserve our respect and praise for what is often life-saving work, not violence and abuse," said Anna Walker, chief executive of the commission, the independent inspection body for the NHS.

More than 128,000 staff in 326 NHS trusts in England took part in the annual NHS survey last October.

The commission said levels of violence had remained constant over the past four years.

But it said harassment, bullying and abuse were on the rise, with ambulance staff suffering the most.

Patients and their relatives were not the only source of abuse -- the commission said ambulance staff were experiencing their highest ever level of bullying and harassment from other NHS workers, reported by nearly a fifth of the paramedics.

"There has been a lot of action by trusts to tackle the problem of violence and abuse in the workplace, but more must be done," said Walker.