§ Dr. Evan HarrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the number of security incidents in the NHS in England in each year since 1997. [110822]
§ Mr. HuttonInformation relating to security incidents in healthcare premises has been collected centrally since 1999. The number of security incidents reported since this date is shown in the table.
Number of incidents 2001–02 166,667 2000–01 112,095 1999–2000 106,935 The increase in the number of incidents reported to 2002 is due, in part, to healthcare organisations initiating better reporting procedures. Historically, there has been significant under reporting of violence towards staff in the national health service. A key objective of the NHS zero tolerance campaign has been to improve levels of reporting among staff. It was acknowledged that the level of recorded incidents was likely to rise in the short term.