The Conflict Resolution Training Blog » NHS

Get out of that. Wrist releases….

Darren Good — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:20:22 +0000

A friend of mine was telling me about an article he’d read on a solicitor’s website about a care-worker who had won damages as a result of her claim for personal injury when a patient she was dealing with grabbed her by the wrist . The prosecutors position was that the employer was negligent for not making sufficient assessment of the risks to health and safety of their employee. A settlement to the tune of £220,00 compensation was agreed.

My friend brought this to my attention not because he’s a health and safety fanatic and knows of my work and personal interest in this area but to ask advice. He too had been grabbed by the wrist by a patient (he’s a care-worker) and while there was nothing serious to report about it, the patient being very frail he wondered what was the best way to release a grip such as this and ensure no harm to either himself or the patient.

So this week I thought I’d share with you my top tips for releasing yourself safely from a grip such as this.

Single Handed Parallel Grip.

If the agressor grabs you with the thumb on the inside of the wrist. Thumb – Inside- Turn In. Pull your hand back towards your own body to break contact with their palm. Push your elbow forwards towards the aggressor’s forearm. Step back to re-create the personal safety buffer zone.

I can’t go without a least a comment on the health and safety side of things that this example highlights. Employers put themselves, their employees and their clients/patients at risk if they do not ensure appropriate and regular physical intervention, personal safety skills and conflict management training . When deciding on a course please ensure it covers the legal side of things such as Health and Safety legislation and that your supplier has the appropriate accreditation such as edexcel the UKs largest awarding body for qualifications and The Institute of conflict management.

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Company Directors charged under Corporate Manslaughter Act

Darren Good — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:24:25 +0000

I’ve been reading a few blogs recently about Lion Steel Ltd.who are the second company to be charged under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 since its implementation. This is a real wake up call for Company Directors to sit up and take notice of staff safety as they will be held to account.

The Greater Manchester Police have charged the storage manufacturing company with corporate manslaughter as a result of the death of an employee when he fell through a fragile plastic roof panel on an industrial estate. I have also read that the company is charged under section 2 and 33 of the Health and Safety Work Acts 1974 (HSWA) for failing to ensure the safety at work of its employees.

So it is that the three directors are each accused of manslaughter by gross negligence under section 37 of the HSWA for failing to ensure the safety at work of their employees.

Notwithstanding the terrible tragedy of the dealth of a man I am pleased to see that the Corporate Manslaughter Act is being used and has not just been a paper exercise. I believe employers should look upon this act as an opportunity to really look at the personal safety of their employees. Equally employees should use this Act as a way to ensure they are getting everything they are entitled to receive to enable them to their jobs safely and effectively. This will include the environment they work in, the equipment used and the quality and frequency of the training they receive.

This applies to all types of workplace, not just where there are obvious risks such as in manufacturing or building services but also where personal safety could be an issue due to staff members interactions with the general public. The NHS for example, often reports violence from patients towards their staff, and this not always from the mentally unstable. So here we have a caring profession….not somewhere you would automatically think of as an environment in need of personal safety for its staff…that in reality needs to and in many cases does, provide personal safety training for it’s staff.

The first hearing for Lion Steel Ltd. Will take place on 2^nd August.

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We must reduce any attacks on NHS staff and this will improve the nation’s health

Darren Good — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:00:50 +0000

In 2008/09 there were 54,758 reported physical assaults against NHS staff in England. This is a reduction of 1,235 compared to the previous year. There were 941 criminal sanctions in cases of assault, compared to 992 in 2007/08. These are shocking statistics but I read an interesting article this week about assaults on NHS staff being treated more seriously by the Crown Prosecution Service. The article read:

“The NHS Security Management Service (SMS) has welcomed the revisions to the sixth edition of the Code for Crown Prosecutors, which highlights the public interest in prosecuting all those who attack health workers. The NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) – a division of the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) – was set up in 2003 to handle policy and operational guidance relating to the management of security within the NHS in England.

“Issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the latest edition of the Code for Crown Prosecutors gives guidance to prosecutors on the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions. Previously, the Code gave limited specific examples of victims of offences who ‘served the public’ – citing the police, prison officers and nurses. These examples have been broadened to specifically include ‘members of the emergency services’ and ‘a health or social welfare professional,’ among others.

This is really good new for both the NHS as a whole and my company as one of it’s accredited training providers. This is what we all wanted to hear; we want people to take aggressive acts against hard working NHS staff members seriously. Now that they are finally considering taking them more seriously it’s about creating some real momentum and making lots of noise about the issue.

Any attacks on a working member of the NHS is disgusting and the fact that people get away with it is even worse. This is about managers saying enough is enough, it’s also about the police taking a harder line with the offenders.

Furthermore, it’s about security managers in the NHS putting the right training and resources in place to avoid the situations altogether. What I am saying is all of this is about cultural change! Whether this is our course delegates, NHS staff managers and policy and security managers.

The CPS needs to realise this is impacting of what it is like to work in the NHS on a day to day basis. It needs to be a much safer and tidier place. The money is in the NHS (£100bn) but its because of inefficiencies that it isn’t used effectively). Did you know sickness in the NHS is 50% higher than the private sector?

In my opinion if you reduce violence and aggression in the NHS and you will reduce sickness and overall improve productivity. How is that for a cutback? You don’t have to cut staff this summer Mr Brown/Cameron – how about taking a tougher line with assaults on NHS staff. The knock on effect of all of this is the patient is more likely to actually get some treatment if the staff are at work and happy in their work.

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Paramedic crews shouldn’t need conflict resolution training but sadly they do

Chris Norton — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:27:43 +0000

Hi my name is Chris Norton, I am the managing director of Dead Dinosaur and a serial blogger. I work with Darren on a few things and whilst he is sunning himself in Australia I promised him I would write a guest post on his Conflict Resolution blog.

To be honest, I was wondering what I could write about Conflict Resolution as I haven’t been involved in too many conflicts myself and don’t have the breadth of knowledge and expertise that Darren has. However, there have been two stories in the media this week that have caught my eye and made me feel a little bit sick inside.

In the Metro yesterday there was an article and quote from Ann Keen, the UK Health Minister who reported that there were more than 1,240 attacks on 999 paramedic crews in 2008/9 which I think is pretty damn awful. However, the fact that the number had dropped by more than 200 the previous year I suppose should be seen as a bit of a positive.

The reported number for the attacks on 999 crews were as follows:

1,240 attacked in 2008/09
1,465 in 07/08
1,006 in 06/07

Another good piece of news in this story is that 241 thugs have been actively punished for attacks on paramedics in the last year. However, that still means that a lot of them are getting away with attacking people who are simply trying to do a damn good job and save lives. I know Darren touched on this recently in his post about Fire Fighters. I am sick of yobs ruining this country and putting goo honest people off from starting these types of jobs. There was an appalling story on BBC News about a group of yobs throwing a brick through the window of an ambulance on a 999 call. I think stories like this are shocking and sad – what kind of cretin does something like that?

GoodSense Conflict Resolution Training provides training to people and paramedics in these types of situations. They teach them how to identify a situation before it becomes violent and if it does they teach how to restrain people. In the modern world without cavemen and women I don’t think the NHS staff should need to learn these types of skills but unfortunately they do and it is this that really saddens me.

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