LEIGHTON Hospital and police have made a flying start on an initiative to deal with violence in hospitals.
A national agreement to adopt a tougher stance on the issue was signed last week between the NHS security management service and the Association of Chief Police Officers.
It comes after 95 assaults were reported by Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust in the last year alone.
The same day Chief Supt Ian Hopkins and Alan White, the chairman of the Trust, discussed ways to implement the policy on the ground.
Mr White said: 'We will not tolerate abusive, physical or verbal behaviour from patients towards any of our staff. Our security management team keeps a thorough record of all incidents and will be tracking the progress of any matters through the criminal justice system.'
Chief Supt Hopkins added: 'There are nearly 3,000 people working at Leighton Hospital and they deserve the best standard of policing and protection. We work with the hospital's security staff to provide that.'
Leighton Hospital invested £170,000 in expanding its security system earlier this year and a network of CCTV cameras now watches over the premises.
Sgt Paul Broadhurst, in charge of officers based at the hospital, said: 'In the past there has been an attitude among some hospital staff that assaults and abuse were part of the job and they didn't always report them. That was wrong and it is changing.'
The new agreement is based on the principle that every incident of violence or abuse will be fully investigated, that the NHS and the police will work with the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts to secure tougher sentencing and that punishment will only be limited to a caution when the issue has been fully discussed with the victim.
