Health and Safety Executive raised fears that NHS mental health trust 'wasn't doing enough to protect staff from violence'

A leading North East NHS Trust "wasn't doing enough" to keep staff safe, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

The HSE wrote to the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust earlier this year to raise the issue which related to "levels of violence and aggression towards staff" at the trust's Mitford Unit, which is an inpatient unit at Northgate Hospital in Morpeth caring for adults with autism.

The concerns included that staff attack alarms did not work correctly in a section of the hospital grounds - but the trust said additional sensors had now been placed to fix this issue.

James Duncan, chief executive at CNTW, said: "Last year, after concerns were raised about the increase in the levels of violence and aggression towards staff at our Mitford Unit, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued us with an improvement notice.

“The HSE were concerned that we were not doing enough to prevent, or protect our staff from, violence and aggression from patients. The improvement notice required us to improve the way we report, manage, and respond to these kinds of incidents. We welcome the HSE’s intervention and guidance on the work we need to do. Our top priority is to make sure our wards are places where our staff, patients, and their carers feel safe and are able to give, and be, their best."

Figures shared at a CNTW board meeting in May showed that, around the trust - which runs a vast range of mental health and learning disability services both in hospitals and in the community across the North - there were 459 "recorded incidents of assaults on staff" during April.

Mr Duncan added: "Mitford Unit provides specialist inpatient support for people who are autistic who, for many reasons, have been unable to cope in their communities or other inpatient services. Often their needs have not been fully understood or met by other services, and this can lead to violent and aggressive behaviour.

"Our aim is to support them to return to living well with their own families or in their own communities. For the staff on Mitford Unit this can be very challenging, but very rewarding, and we are proud of the many success stories we have seen."

The chief executive continued by saying that in response to the improvement notice the trust had reviewed its health and safety systems, policies and processes and there was now a "greater focus" on preventing incidents occurring in the first place.

He added: "We are working closely with staff, patients, and their families and carers at Mitford Unit to support them. We are reviewing the way we provide care in the service, recognising that the best way to reduce violent and aggressive behaviour is to make sure that people feel safe, listened to, and supported.

“We are confident that the action we have taken so far has significantly reduced the risks of violence and aggression at Mitford, and we are continuing to work on making improvements for staff and patients across all our services."

In a September board report, CNTW bosses wrote: "The trust submitted its response to the Improvement Notice on 3rd May 2024, and the HSE had subsequently responded to request that some areas within the trust’s respons eare strengthened."

These areas included regarding how staff fed into risk assessments. A Violence Reduction Steering Group has also been established within the Trust to further make progress on these issues.