§ Mr. Croninasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to reduce further the number of assaults made by patients on nursing staff in hospitals.
§ Mr. CrossmanThe Confederation of Health Service Employees has from time to time made representations to me and my predecessors about aggressive patients and about occasional incidents in which nurses have been injured. It has stressed the need for adequate staffing in hospitals which treat such patients, and has pressed for security units for particularly violent patients. The level of staffing and conditions in all hospitals should be such as to keep violence by patients to the minimum. Regional hospital boards are giving urgent consideration to means of improving conditions, including numbers of nursing staff, in all types of psychiatric hospital.