NHS staff finally receive training on lone worker devices

As of last month, the first few hundred nurses and other health service lone workers have been trained in the use of new personal safety alarms, according to the NHS Security Management Service. (NHS SMS). As reported in LookOut call News earlier this year, NHS SMS announced in May that 30,000 lone workers would finally start to receive their safety devices this year after being promised by ministers for several years, most recently by former health secretary Alan Johnson.

NHS SMS has overseen the training of the first wave of users, all of which have welcomed the initiative. According to Sue Frith, deputy head of NHS SMS, ‘The new system provides NHS members of staff with a service that they can use to signal discreetly for assistance should they feel vulnerable or distressed when working alone. It also helps protect NHS staff from violence or abuse and allows action to be taken against those who have committed assaults. This helps deliver healthy and safe working conditions and an environment free from harassment, bullying or violence, in line with the new NHS Constitution The new comprehensive training package will make sure NHS staff are fully equipped to make good use of this system,’ she added.

Among those lone NHS workers to have received training so far are 60 staff from St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust in south London, and also staff from Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust in Kent, both of which provided positive feedback on the training. According to a Local Security Management Specialist at  St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust, "We have more than 60 of our staff members trained. They have all found it very useful. We have been advocating it for a while. It gives them the added protection and support that they need."

However, if the NHS feedback LookOut call has been receiving is anything to go by, there may be problems deploying the safety devices to staff who strongly dislike the use of ID badges and have complained that they are too obtrusive and only offer one-way communications. The steep ongoing costs involved is also a major concern for most NHS trusts.

LookOut call News nevertheless welcomes any initiative that helps to improve the safety of lone workers either in the public or private sector and hopes to report further on this initiative next year once it is being widely rolled out to staff.