NHS: Abuse of Nurses

Lord Laming Excerpts

Tuesday 5th April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I hope the noble Baroness will appreciate that I have laid out some of the initiatives that are taking place, and which are not only trying to prevent abuses against members of staff and nursing staff but supporting staff to de-escalate them. On well-being and getting more nurses, the Government are committed to continuing to grow the NHS workforce. We are still committed to the figure of 50,000 more nurses and to putting the NHS on a trajectory towards a sustainable long-term supply in the future. We are working on a number of well-being schemes to ensure that nurses are supported and feel safer and more willing to stay in service.

[Lord Laming (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that sometimes, nurses find themselves in this difficult situation because, as the most junior staff, they are required to give unwelcome messages about the limitations of resources? There are a lot of managers in the health service, but they put nurses forward to give that unwelcome message to patients and their relatives. Can the Minister see whether there are better ways to protect the most junior staff in the organisation?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I must admit that I was not aware of that, but I will take it back to the department to investigate and will write to the noble Lord. We have been looking at how to train staff not only to deal with abusers but to handle different situations and to de-escalate. There are also a number of staff health and well-being support programmes, including website session support lines, certain apps, well-being seminars and coaching seminars.