NHS workers report facing violence and aggression from patients, their families, and even fellow staff members.

There has been a significant rise in incidents of abuse towards NHS workers in recent years, leading one hospital to pledge to outfit its staff with body cameras to prevent assault and aggression and workers claiming that they go to work ‘expecting to get hurt’.

A new YouGov survey reveals the scale of violence and aggression reported by patient-facing healthcare workers. Three in 10 (30%) NHS workers who interact with patients say they experience violence from a patient at least once a year, including one in 20 (5%) who say they are subject to attacks at least once a week. A further 15% say they experience violence from a patient’s family member at least once a year.

In addition, two-thirds (67%) of patient-facing NHS workers say they experience aggressive behaviour from a patient at least once a year, with a fifth (19%) saying they face aggression at least once a week and 3% every day.

A similar proportion of patient-facing workers (64%) say they experience aggressive behaviour from a patient’s family member at least once a year.

A quarter of NHS workers experience aggression from fellow staff members at least once a year

For all NHS workers, including those who don’t work in patient-facing roles, a quarter (26%) say they face aggressive behaviour from fellow staff at least once a year – 27% of patient-facing workers, and 22% of workers that don’t interact with patients. One in eight (12%) say they have ever experienced violence from a fellow staff member – 13% of patient-facing workers, and 8% of workers that don’t interact with patients. This includes some 3% of healthcare workers who say they experience violence from fellow staff members at least once a year.

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