Cash Spent On Hospital Security Slammed

Millions of pounds being spent to keep staff safe across Northern Ireland's hospitals has been branded as a squandering of resources.

The SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns also described the £3.3million spent on private security for accident and emergency departments as "ridiculous".

He called for tougher punishments to be imposed on those who subject NHS staff to any form of harassment.

"By being a nuisance or causing a disturbance in a hospital they are not only wasting money but delaying their own treatment. Such behaviour is foolish in the extreme and ultimately self-defeating.

"People who show up in A&E 'wasted' on alcohol or drugs are a big enough drain on resources already.

"If they cause a scene and have to be restrained or escorted from the premises they should be prosecuted and we should send them a bill," he said.

The politician was commenting on figures released in response to a written assembly question tabled by the SDLP representative.

They covered the last five years and showed that sums of around £600,000 annually had now risen to £759,613 for 2008/09, totalling a figure well in excess of £3m.

The MLA said: "It now appears that A&E departments have become so unsafe that a small fortune has to be spent on policing and providing private security.

"I certainly agree that frontline medical staff should not have to waste time recognising and defusing potentially violent situations, and I acknowledge that private security guards do have a role to play in this regard.

"The simple fact is that if people could just keep control of their tempers we would not have to squander such a vast amount of resources providing security for doctors and nurses in our hospitals," he fumed.

He was speaking as the Stormont Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey said that attacks on health and social care staff will not be tolerated: "Since I came into office, a zero tolerance campaign has been running," he said.

"A new piece of legislation to allow the removal of those who create a nuisance or disturbance from hospital premises will become effective shortly," the Minister continued, noting that he wanted to reinforce the message of zero tolerance: "I will do all I can to ensure that the law is strengthened even further to deal with people who are violent and abusive to our staff who are performing life-saving jobs."

Meanwhile, the British Medical Association's (BMA) Northern Ireland branch has expressed alarm over associated news that attacks on healthcare workers in the Belfast Trust had increased by 35%.

A BMA spokeswoman said: "We are horrified to learn that despite the ongoing work to reinforce the message that attacks on healthcare workers are totally unacceptable, the number of both verbal and physical assaults continues to rise.

"This is unacceptable. Not only do doctors suffer the effect of such attacks, but patients are directly affected when their doctor has to take time off to recover.

"In addition, money, which could be spent on improving patient care, is diverted to tackling assaults," she said.

(BMcC/JM)