In house security staff

Following an increase in the number of patients who are a risk to themselves and/or aggressive towards members of staff, other patients and visitors, we identified an increase in spending with external agencies providing security for these patients.

This raised questions about governance, skills as well as cost.

Following a review of our options, we have introduced the role of the Bank Security Support Worker.

These staff are trained in dealing with at risk patients and in reducing the risk of aggression or harm. This has had a positive impact with the wards finding that these staff are more skilled at managing patients and being able to provide a continuity of care not always possible through agency staff.

Ward staff have commented that they feel these staff are part of the ward team as opposed to external individuals.

This enables a better quality of care and support for patients and staff. Staff recruited have been positive about the role and enjoyed the added caring focus that it provides.

At first we were concerned about whether we would be able to provide sufficient work to maintain their status on our bank but so far this has not been problematic.

We are looking to expand the pool of staff working with us.

This has also enabled us to reduce our spend on external agencies by more than 50%