Trusts count cost of A&E police cover

Hospitals are paying tens of thousands of pounds for police officers to cover accident and emergency departments on Friday and Saturday nights, it was disclosed today.

Officers cover A&E across the UK in a bid to prevent violence towards doctors, nurses and other workers, hospital trusts said.

A total of £60,000 a year pays for four officers to cover A&E at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Western Infirmary in Glasgow on a Friday and Saturday night.

Trusts in Liverpool and Newcastle also said they paid for police officers at the weekend.

From January to December 2009, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust spent £28,980 for a police officer at Arrowe Park Hospital from 9pm to 5am on Friday and Saturday nights.

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust pays £25,000 a year for a police officer for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at Newcastle General Hospital.

Paul Brewis, operational services manager at the trust, said: "Due to the location of the A&E department this initiative was introduced to enhance existing security arrangements on site, to support frontline staff who may be at risk from a number of attendees and potentially subject to abuse. verbal or physical, as well as providing additional site surveillance."

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "Having a police presence in two of our accident and emergency departments was the result of a significant rise in the number of staff reporting physical or verbal abuse.

"Glasgow Royal Infirmary has the presence of two police officers for four hours on a Friday and Saturday night. The Western Infirmary has two police officers for three hours on a Friday and Saturday night."

The spokeswoman said the trust had set up "the most comprehensive violence and aggression policy in Scotland" in 2005 which included CCTV and freephone lines direct to local police stations.

She continued: "Through our violence and aggression policy we offer staff the opportunity to complete a City and Guilds Certificate in dealing with aggression.

"As a last resort, staff are able to withhold treatment from a patient who is persistently violent or aggressive."

A spokeswoman for the the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust paid £22,950.25 from January last year to January this year.

One police officer covers the Royal Liverpool University Hospital on Friday and Saturday nights, between 10pm and 6am.

"The additional police support has been in place since the late 1990s/2000 and is the result of close partnership working between the trust and Merseyside Police to proactively prevent violence and aggression towards staff," the spokesman added.

A spokesman for Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said they did not have a high level of alcohol-related abuse and violence towards staff.

He said: "The main reason for the introduction of police cover was to improve the perception of the work environment for staff within A&E, as well as to improve staff safety. The trust started to pay for police cover in April 2002."

Other trusts said they paid for police to be on site during the week

Dr Peter Harrowing, from the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust's Legal Services, said: "The trust currently employs two police liaison officers who cover all of the trust from Monday to Friday between 8am to 5pm.

"The trust contributes £50,000, which is part payment for the officers to provide this service. Avon and Somerset Police subsidise the remainder as part of partnership."

The officers have been in place at the trust since 2003.

Some information from hospital trusts was provided following freedom of information requests by the Press Association.

A spokeswoman for Unison, which represents 450,000 health workers in the UK, said: "We have spoken to staff working in A&E departments and some of them say it's like a war zone on Friday and Saturday night.

"There's no doubt the 24-hour drinking culture has meant that people are attending A&E drunk, particularly at the weekend.

"It's very frightening for staff working there and other patients.

"It's a sad fact that A&E need to have police officers in there to protect staff and patients."

The spokeswoman said Unison wanted to see more people prosecuted and given heavier sentences if they were convicted of assaults on NHS staff and paramedics.

Sue Frith, from the NHS Security Management Service, said: "The NHS Security Management Service provide support to the NHS on measures to tackle violence against their staff, through the network of professionally trained Local Security Management Specialists.

"There is no such thing as a general security level in NHS A&E departments. Each part of the country will encounter different needs at different times of the year, from the flu pandemic in winter months to a seaside town in the height of summer. Trusts are able to identify the risk and staff accordingly."