31.03.16
NHS staff urged to adopt police powers to tackle anti-social behaviour
Policing powers could be delegated to NHS staff to help tackle anti-social behaviour, under new guidance published today.
NHS Protect published the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) guidance, which allows police chief officers to delegate limited powers to accredited persons within NHS organisations to help tackle anti-social behaviour in partnership with the police.
Provision to establish CSASs was first established under the Police Reform Act 2002 and amended by the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 and the Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014.
Delegated powers could include the power to issue Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) for behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress; issuing PNDs for using electronic communications to cause annoyance, inconvenience, or anxiety to another; require the name and address of people for fixed penalty offences or anti-social behaviour; and confiscating alcohol.
Andrew Masterman, policy lead for violence at NHS Protect, said: “Many NHS employees already contribute to community safety and indirectly, to neighbourhood policing. Through CSAS they can obtain formal accreditation for this role, if their area is covered.”
He urged NHS leaders to support the new guidance.
The most recent NHS staff survey found that 15% of staff have experienced physical violence from members of the public and 28% have experienced harassment.
Chief Constable Simon Cole, the National Police Chiefs Council leader for local policing, said: “The CSAS is about the public, the private sector and the police working as a team to tackle the issues and priorities that matter most to our communities.
“The increasing uptake by private and public organisations shows how effective it has been. We hope this success will allow police officers to spend more time on patrol and increase community safety.”
A circular leaked earlier this month suggested that NHS Protect’s work will be downgraded from working directly with trusts to providing centralised capacity and monitoring. The organisation has also published guidance to protect NHS staff from challenging behaviour.
To view the guidance, click here.
(Image c. Andy Smith)